Washington, DC — Today, Rep. Rosa DeLauro introduced the Fair Trade for Working Families Resolution, a bill that would ensure U.S. trade policy boosts domestic manufacturing, protects safe, family-supporting jobs, and reduces pollution at home and abroad.

The resolution calls for robust environmental standards in trade agreements, strong enforcement mechanisms, and policies that reward responsible production instead of corporate pollution. The current trade policy standard allows corporations to shift production to places with weak environmental safeguards, which worsens pollution and climate-warming emissions globally.

This bill is especially relevant as the United States is in the process of renegotiating the trilateral trade agreement it has with Mexico and Canada, known as the USMCA, as well as discussing trade with our biggest global competitor, China, which has a history of unfair trade practices.

Sierra Club and partners have called on trade negotiators to make changes to the environmental chapter of USMCA, and more broadly in the agreement, to support the creation of a sustainable and resilient manufacturing sector. The proposed changes would protect the environment and the health of the public and workers.

In reaction, Sierra Club Industrial Campaign Lead Harry Manin released the following statement:

“Sierra Club is pleased to support the Fair Trade for Working Families Resolution that aims to make a long-overdue shift toward a trade policy that recognizes environmental protection as essential, not optional. For too long, weak standards and poor enforcement have allowed pollution to be outsourced, fueling a global race to the bottom that harms communities and the climate. By requiring strong, enforceable environmental safeguards in U.S. trade agreements, we can ensure economic growth doesn’t come at the expense of clean air, safe water, and a stable climate and instead is designed to support good jobs, high wages, and low pollution here and abroad. We thank Rep. DeLauro for her leadership and stewardship on this critical economic issue.”

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.

Press releases about cleantech products, cleantech companies, or other cleantech news. Some of these may be underwritten by the companies. For more information, or to get your press release into our Newswire Corner, go to this link.

Press Release has 1089 posts and counting.

See all posts by Press Release