Bad trade deals help big business, hurt workers: #tellusatoday

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have criticized Nabisco for plans to lay off hundreds of workers in Chicago and shift production to a plant in Mexico. Letter to the editor:

Donald Trump’s message is consistent when he decries the loss of Nabisco jobs in Chicago as the company plans to move some jobs to Mexico. But it makes no sense that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are against the move (“Oreo cookie in White House hopefuls’ crosshairs over outsourcing”)!

They adamantly defend the rights of millions of undocumented immigrants to live and work in the United States, but they don’t want some who are Mexicans to have better jobs in their own country? They don’t want to share American expertise and prosperity with our neighbors to the South?

Pamela Boyd; Phoenix

POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Read the label. If it states “made in Mexico,” don’t buy it.

— Julia S Wallace

Nabisco says the move is going to save $46 million each year. I guess that means the company will lower the price on Oreos, right? Ha!

— D.f. Moore

Time to back out of NAFTA and all trade deals that harm American jobs. President Trump will do that.

— Mitch Cumstein

Trade isn’t the problem. We need more of it. But our leaders have made a series of bad trade deals that have increased profitability for U.S. business at the expense of U.S. workers.

— Stef Vandehey

The problem is, in six months no one will talk about this. People will be eating as many or more Oreos, and no one will care where they’re made.

— James Peters

Technology replaces jobs as an ongoing process. We feed ourselves and a good deal of the world with relatively few people actually farming. Even if the factories that made goods were in the U.S., they would provide fewer jobs, but they would still provide jobs. The location of the plant still matters.

— William Shipley

We asked what followers thought would help prevent companies from moving U.S. jobs overseas. Comments from Twitter are edited for clarity and grammar:

Multifaceted problem with a simple answer. Businesses will go where labor is cheap, regulations few and profits high.

— @kjjd1965

If every product made in America were identified by a unique symbol, it would be easier for consumers to buy them.

— @NancySawyerFox

Cutting corporate taxes is a good place to start. Impose higher tariffs on items sent back to United States. Right-to-work laws.

— @ann_boger

The closing of international tax loopholes. Also, holding companies responsible for overseas worker conditions.

— @TheThirdPartyUS

For more discussions, follow @USATOpinion or #tellusatoday.