Top U.S. labor leader blasts Trump on trade in dueling speech

Richard Trumka, president of American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), speaks during the AFL-CIO 2013 Convention in Los Angeles, California, U.S. September 10, 2013.

Reuters/Kevork Djansezian/File Photo

The head of the largest U.S. labor union federation tried to pre-empt Donald Trump's planned speech on trade on Tuesday, saying the Republican presidential candidate was full of "empty promises" as he tried to make inroads with working-class voters.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka - a top ally of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton - said at a trade conference in Washington that, at Trump campaign stops in the Rust Belt states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, voters should expect to hear "crocodile tears about lost jobs and shuttered factories."

"Trump embodies everything that is wrong with our current trade policy. He has consistently sent American jobs overseas to line his own pockets," Trumka said, apparently referring to Trump-branded products such as suits and ties that are made abroad.

Trumka's rebuke occurred just hours before the New York businessman was slated to make a speech attacking Clinton's record on trade, followed by a stop in Ohio.

Trump will tie Clinton to trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which unions oppose, and question her commitment to fight for American workers, a campaign aide said.

Trump will also discuss his own trade agenda, including his plans to label China a currency manipulator, the aide told Reuters.

Clinton's campaign called the presumptive Republican nominee's remarks an attempt to distract from "his dangerous economic policies."

Both Clinton and Trump are battling over blue-collar voters ahead of the Nov. 8 election in states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, which Democratic President Barack Obama won twice but which have been hard-hit by manufacturing job losses. Trumka has acknowledged that Trump's populist rhetoric could appeal to Rust Belt workers.

Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, struggled with these voters in her primary race against U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who criticized her for supporting trade deals and said she was too close to Wall Street.

But when the AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 unions that collectively represent more than 12 million workers, formally endorsed Clinton for president earlier this month, Trumka warned of the "dire consequences" posed by Trump's candidacy.

Trumka acknowledged on Tuesday that Clinton was pushed to reject the pending 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership during her primary campaign after pressure from progressives within her party, including Sanders, who now says he will vote for Clinton in November although he has not withdrawn from the race.

POPULIST ANGER

    In recent days, Trump has seized on Britain's vote to leave the European Union to bolster his argument that voters are rising up against establishment leaders, saying Americans would reject the "global elite" and support his presidential candidacy.

Trumka said the "Brexit" vote "sent a message that was pretty loud and pretty clear that we have to make democratic societies work for working people."

Trump has broken with Republican Party orthodoxy to criticize U.S. trade deals, and threatened to slap tariffs on imports from Mexico and China. His rhetoric has drawn criticism from many economists, who say such practices could spark trade wars.

Paul Ryan, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and highest-ranking elected Republican in Washington, on Tuesday called for the United States, in parallel with ongoing trade negotiations with Europe, to pursue a separate free trade agreement with Britain once it has formally separated from the EU.

Clinton has said she will evaluate each trade deal on its merits. At a rally in Ohio on Monday with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading critic of trade deals, Clinton said if elected to the White House, she would appoint a trade prosecutor to "end the abuse" of U.S. workers.

Matt Grossmann, director of Michigan State University's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, said union members tend to be more conservative than their solidly Democratic leadership.

"The long-running Democratic strategy has been to say, 'We empathize with people like you and the Republicans are out for the rich.' I don't see any reason why you would change strategies," Grossmann said.

c:Reuters