Tariffs Should Not Be Weaponized for an Anti-Immigrant Agenda
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Over the weekend, President Trump threatened Colombia with 25-50% tariffs if the country continued to reject U.S. military planes of deported Colombian migrants. Global Trade Watch Director Melinda St. Louis issued the following statement:
“Trump is wielding tariffs like a schoolyard bully to advance a hateful agenda. Using the threat of tariffs as a weapon in a broader anti-immigrant campaign is a reprehensible misuse of trade policy and should be vehemently opposed.
“While tariffs can play a constructive role in protecting U.S. jobs and enforcing labor and environmental standards when part of a strategic industrial policy, Trump’s approach is neither strategic nor appropriate. Using tariffs to bully countries, particularly to promote an anti-humanitarian agenda, does nothing to support U.S. workers.
“To the extent there is a connection between trade and immigration policy, it is that decades of U.S. trade policy created with outsized corporate influence led to agricultural dumping, worker exploitation, and environmental degradation that has forced many people in Latin America to migrate in search of a better life. Rather than demonizing immigrants or blaming other countries, our leaders must overhaul our broken trade policies to address these root causes of migration and protect the rights of migrant workers.”