Vietnam Faces Trouble Meeting TPP Labor Rights Standards, Teamsters President Argues
Vietnam may not be able to meet labor standards in a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, said International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa in an Aug. 26 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (here). Hoffa asked if the USTR might seek a "phase-in" period for the country to address its labor issues. Hoffa also cited recent endorsement from Rep. George Miller, senior Democrat on the Committee on Education and Workforce of a Worker Rights Consortium May report (here), that outlined poor Vietnamese labor conditions. “The U.S. must lead in enforcement of labor obligations that inform our national trade policy,” said Miller in a July 24 letter (here) to Froman. An Education and Workforce Committee press official declined to comment.
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Hoffa also cautioned that the TPP may reverse a trend of shrinking trade deficits. “The Teamsters are not alone in our urgent concern that this hopeful trend will not be undermined by predictable trade deficits under the TPP, especially on account of cheap imports in shoes and apparel from Vietnam or any country in which forced child labor has been documented,” said Hoffa in the letter.