Those headwinds, and the realization that little real progress will be made in an election year in which former President Donald Trump has put a big spotlight on trade, have some officials wondering when it's time to take next steps. I'm sure it's arrived. Adding to the frustration is lingering dissatisfaction with U.S. Trade Representative Kathryn Tai's management practices — criticism that her allies have cited for policy inconsistency and gender discrimination.
Wave of withdrawals 'certainly raises questions' about trade agenda, Senate Finance Committee chairman says Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), whose committee oversees trade policy and human resources. “They lost a lot of people, a lot of good people.”
Some critics have laid the blame at Mr. Tai's feet, saying he did not have a strong enough relationship with other members of Mr. Biden's team to effectively implement trade policy. . That has led to conflicts with other parts of the administration, including disagreements with the National Security Council over digital trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization.
“She's really tough on people. She hasn't found a way to build relationships with other parts of the administration. That's the way she works,” said one official familiar with personnel matters. “Morale is [problem] That's more important than anything. No other agency has this type of resignation. ”
Mr. Biden's team has expressed reservations about such criticism. Officials close to the administration say the departing officials have been planning their departures for months, and the White House insists its commitment to the global economy will continue unabated. They say the outgoing team members have each been on the job for years, many have young children, and have already made significant progress in reforming long-standing economic rules that took decades to create. added.
“Three years later, there is strong continuity among the USTR staff, and despite the rigors and sacrifices that public service entails, a remarkable number of employees still work with the Ambassador with pride. “There are,” said a spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative's office. “Ambassador Thai has full confidence in the team's ability to deliver on the President's international economic policy, which positions America to compete and win on the world stage while putting American workers at the forefront of trade policy. ing.”
Mr. Tai's supporters and those within the government have brushed off criticism of his management style, saying they are less concerned about dissatisfaction with an unusually harsh boss than with employees who disagree with Mr. Tai's aggressive pursuit of worker-friendly trade policies. claims that it is a problem.
“Katherine Tai has followed President Biden's directive that our nation's trade policy must be employee-centric and focused on further investment here in the United States, especially expanding our manufacturing base. She has spent her entire career in the opposite direction. It's no wonder that people who have spent so much time rowing are not happy,'' Sen said. elizabeth warren (D-Mass.), one of Ty's staunchest allies on the Hill. “Where the office is now, it’s pretty difficult [departing staff] It's much easier to go out and say their problems are based on policy versus claiming they're leaving for other reasons. So, I just don't buy it. ”
Other Thai supporters said the criticism sounded sexist and said past trade representatives, who had been much harsher on staff than Ty, had not faced similar criticism. One staffer who has served under the six trade representatives said they have a much less harsh attitude than some of their predecessors.
“She doesn’t judge people,” the staffer said. “She gets violent when she gets into arguments. And sometimes those arguments don't hold up.”
These policy and personnel issues come amid growing recognition that the president's trade agenda could be a political liability in an election year. Biden is gearing up for a rematch with Trump. Mr. Trump disrupted foreign trade politics during the 2016 election with a populist message that viewed any move toward protectionism as a betrayal of American workers.
Mr. Biden's “worker-centric” trade policy is aimed at easing fractious relations with close trading partners and bringing back blue-collar workers in battleground states. But his sweeping plan to reshape global trade rules means that Mr. Trump is pushing trade issues in the industrial Midwest, an area that could decide control of Congress and the White House in November. That hasn't allayed the concerns of Democrats who fear it will be used again as a cudgel against them.
This disconnect has forced the USTR to freeze, abandon, or significantly scale back its signature initiatives and negotiations, and has frustrated some prominent members and staff. Especially Mr. Wyden and Mr. Sen. sherrod brown (D-Ohio) said the administration has fallen short of the Trump administration's achievements in trade, including the binding labor and environmental standards that Democrats included in the NAFTA amendments that President Trump signed in 2020. I'm furious.
“Sen. Brown and I have consistently said we need a proposal that opens markets for business and has strong enforcement, similar to what we saw in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” Wyden said. said. It doesn't meet that test. ”
Despite the complaints, people close to Tai said he still had the president's confidence and had no plans to resign before the end of his term. But the administration's early efforts to fill trade vacancies are already running into difficulties.
Mr. Biden's pick for deputy trade representative, Nelson Cunningham, faces skepticism from Mr. Wyden and direct opposition from other Democratic leaders. They worry that his decades of work as a corporate consultant in Washington, D.C., will lead him to represent the interests of big business over workers — exactly the kind of thing Biden has avoided. That's the criticism I was trying to make.
“We've built a new policy, and this crowd, this fellow, doesn't seem to understand it,” Wyden said, referring to the administration and Cunningham.
Mr. Brown, who faces a tough re-election battle in a trade-skeptical state of Ohio, said, “Trade policy should not be led by someone who advocates for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.That would be bad for Ohio workers.'' It’s going to be terrible.” He announced Wednesday that he opposes Cunningham's nomination.
Lawmakers who must implement the White House's trade policy in the coming months say they will continue to pressure the administration to avoid further setbacks.
“I think this administration wants to do the right thing,” Brown said. “I just help them stay focused there. That's my job.”
