Blacks, Latinos have been hurt more by U.S. trade policies

Black and Latino workers were more likely than Anglos to lose manufacturing jobs as a result of U.S. trade policies over the past 25 years, new research indicates.

Although President Donald Trump deliberately courted the Anglo working class with his failed “Buy American, Hire American” campaign, Black and Latino workers suffered disproportionate economic harm by corporate offshoring following the enactmentof the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization agreement during the Clinton administration — trends that continued during Trump’s presidency as more manufacturing jobs disappeared, researchers found.

Researchers analyzed and matched government data on trade job loss with demographic data in a rare look at how purportedly race-neutral trade policies and agreements impact American workers of different races and ethnicities.

Not only were Black and Latino factory workers more likely to lose their jobs, they also were less likely to find new employment, said the report by Public Citizen, a nonprofit corporate and government watchdog.

When they did manage to secure work, they faced larger pay cuts than white workers with similar educational backgrounds.

“The conventional wisdom created by Trump was a narrative of white working-class voters being the only injured party hurt by trade,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch who co-wrote the report with research director Daniel Rangel. “In fact, workingclass people of all races and ethnicities got slammed by our trade policies, but the data show it’s Black and Latino workers who have suffered the heaviest damage.”

Black and Latino workers are overrepresented in the manufacturing sectors hit hardest by trade, including offshoring and imports, such as auto and steel, furniture, textiles and garments, and electrical appliances as well as customer service call centers, the report found. Wages in the manufacturing sectors have also stagnated in the past 25 years.

The decline in U.S. manufacturing fueled competition for a smaller number of well-paying jobs available to workers without college degrees and exacerbated systemic racial inequalities.

“The negative impact of trade shock job loss and wage declines are magnified for (Black and Latino workers) because it comes in the context of underlying racial biases against Black and Latino populations that have affected hiring and promotion prospects, wages and educational opportunities for generations,” the report said.

“The outcomes of our trade policies and agreements have reinforced a racially biased system,” it said.