Public Citizen Kicks Off Industrial Midwest Tour In Michigan & Ohio, Redefining the Future of U.S. Trade Policy
DETROIT, MI – This week, Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy and watchdog group with 1,000,000 members nationwide, hosted the first of several tour stops in Detroit and Toledo with the United Autoworkers, United Steelworkers, farmers organizations, and small business groups to discuss unfair trade and economic policies that have harmed working people for decades.
These first two stops featured conversations with Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Rep. Debbie Dingell, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who spoke directly to people in manufacturing communities that have been hit hard by outsourcing, job loss, and Trump’s chaotic tariffs.
Media available for publication:
- Detroit photos
- Toledo photos
- Videos available on request
“The elites and the Billionaire class have failed working people by supporting trade agreements that allowed greedy corporations to chase low wage labor and ship our jobs overseas. I led the fight to defeat NAFTA and CAFTA because I knew they would hollow out good paying production jobs in Northwest Ohio, and across the Heartland — unfortunately our worst fears have been realized. I have seen the destruction NAFTA wrought in Mexico too, with whole communities left without food and people murdered for standing up for better wages. Our fight for jobs and real solutions for workers at home and across the globe must go forward.”
– Quote from Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) at the Toledo event on May 6
“Tariffs are a tool to protect workers from unfair competition — like with China that is manipulating its currency, subsidizing its production, and using slave labor — but the way President Trump has done tariffs in the last year has not bee helping workers in this country. Period. It’s been chaotic, and it has cost jobs. Over 100,000 factory jobs have been lost in the past 12 months since the President’s tariffs, with 45 states including Michigan experiencing lower job creation than in previous period. I tell my colleagues we all need to spend time in union halls and talk directly to workers about how we fix our trade policy, and unions need to mobilize and hold your elected officials accountable.”
– Quote from Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) at the Detroit event on May 5
“We in Southeastern Michigan know that we were gaslighted that NAFTA-style trade deals would create jobs because we’ve seen the race to the bottom firsthand and we’ve seen how they’ve pitted workers against each other, as the companies go to where the unions and regulations are the weakest. International trade and finance should be guided by the same values that we have here at home: sustainability, equity, democracy, and solidarity. But instead, the international trade agreements have prioritized corporate interests above everything else. And now the current chaotic tariffs don’t have the goal of protecting workers and our environment. We don’t really know what the goal is, but they clearly aren’t working and are being used to divide us.”
– Quote from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) at the Detroit event on May 5
“Free trade agreements of the past like NAFTA have just about squeezed working people into oblivion, and Trump’s chaotic and corrupt trade policies of today are only making matters worse. If we’re serious about revitalizing U.S. manufacturing and creating and supporting good-paying union jobs, we need big, bold ideas for a trade policy that actually centers workers. So the goal of these town hall events is to talk with one another about how our rapidly changing global economy is impacting our communities and also to think big about what we could do if we had an economy designed to protect working people – and what we will need to get there.”
– Quote from Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen, at the Toledo event on May 6
Remaining stops on the “Building a Fair Economy for All Tour” include:
- Allentown, Penn. – May 14
- Pittsburgh, Penn. – May 26
- Dayton, Ohio – May 27
- Chicago, Ill. – June 15
- Mt. Horeb, Wis. – June 16
- Erie, Penn. – June 17