Wisconsin union members, farmers and other workers are taking their trade concerns to the streets as global officials meet in the Badger State this week.
A coalition of labor and community groups plans to rally Sept. 30 outside the G20 Trade Ministerial, which takes place in Milwaukee this year, calling for what they described as fairer trade policies.
Tarek Bos-Shadi, Midwest regional organizer for the Trade Justice Education Fund, said they want a new approach to put workers, family farms and communities at the center of trade negotiations.
"Trade policy and especially the job loss that has happened over the last 30 years, it affects more than just the manufacturing sector of the economy. When jobs like that are lost, everybody loses. Every worker loses," Bos-Shadi asserted.
The U.S. has run a goods trade deficit of more than $653 billion from January through July of this year. The Trump administration said its trade policies are intended to protect American workers and expand manufacturing, while groups rallying in Milwaukee said past trade policies have contributed to job losses and weaker labor standards.
The protesters are backing a proposal called the "Fair Trade for Working Families" plan, which Bos-Shadi pointed out would address wages, worker rights, family farms, environmental protections and artificial intelligence accountability. He added they are calling on lawmakers to prioritize alternative options beyond the traditional free-trade model or the administration’s tariff approach.
"There seems to be a very strict binary. You are either pro-free trade or there's this new binary, which is the Trump tariff regime. And the essence of the Fair Trade for Working Families House Resolution is to make sure that we have a trade policy that is putting working people first," Bos-Shadi emphasized.
Demonstrators will deliver a petition to trade officials signed by people across the Midwest calling for its adoption and ongoing trade negotiations. U.S. trade officials are expected to discuss forced labor, global supply chains, food trade and manufacturing at the G20 meeting.
