Hochberg served as the President and Chairman of the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM), the official U.S. export credit agency. Hochberg’s fossil fueled legacy at EXIM disqualifies him for a top aide position with the new Biden administration, the groups claim. 

“Hochberg was a disaster at EXIM, turning the institution into the fossil fuel bank,” said Doug Norlen, economic policy director at Friends of the Earth U.S. “Under Hochberg’s leadership, EXIM supported projects like the Sasan coal plant and mine that have resulted in at least 36 deaths. This cruel legacy means Hochberg has forfeited his right to a place in the Biden administration.”

Hochberg was shortlisted in early November as a potential candidate for US Trade Representative, or other high-level positions in the Biden administration.

“Given his record of support for fossil fuel expansion world-wide, and for deadly, polluting, and corruption-inducing projects, we urge you to reject Fred Hochberg for U.S. Trade Representative and other key administration positions,” the letter reads.

Hochberg’s consideration for a top position is in direct violation of Biden’s pledge to jumpstart a Presidency focused on climate solutions. In his seven years at EXIM under Obama, Hochberg oversaw USD 34 billion in investments in fossil fuel projects, which is three times as much as the previous eight years under Bush.

Press inquiries: Kaela Bamberger, kbamberger@foe.org, 202-222-0703

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Senate approval of USMCA comes just as the Trump Administration signed a trade agreement with China in which China agrees to buy $52.4 billion of additional U.S. energy products, which will result in billions of dollars in exports of climate-damaging and community-poisoning liquefied natural gas, crude oil and coal.

In response to the vote, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement: 

It’s incredibly disappointing to see Congress approve the USCMA with no provisions whatsoever to address climate change.  By shirking this responsibility, Congress set a precedent for future trade agreements that not only fails to address the greatest threat facing our planet but makes it worse.  Trump’s new trade agreement with China, which will increase exports of climate-damaging and community-poisoning liquefied natural gas, crude oil and coal is a prime example.

Expert contact: Doug Norlen, (510) 900-3143, dnorlen@foe.org
Communications contact: Erin Jensen, (202) 222-0722, ejensen@foe.org

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In response to Schumer’s opposition, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth U.S., issued the following statement:

We applaud Schumer’s decision to champion the cause of climate change by voting against Trump’s USMCA. As wildfires rage out of control and our planet endures record-breaking temperatures, Democrats must stop oil and gas companies from using backroom trade deals to destroy the environment.

In opposing Trump’s trade deal, Leader Schumer is protesting the inevitable increase in the trade of tar sands, oil and fracked gas across the continent. The trade agreement will help corporate polluters, like Chevron and ExxonMobil, challenge environmental protections in private tribunals. The USMCA is both an insult to communities across North America who live on the front lines of corporate pollution and a giant step in the wrong direction.

Leader Schumer has demonstrated climate leadership by opposing USMCA. There is no excuse for any Democrat to vote for a trade deal that compromises our climate.

Contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

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The new USMCA fails to address nearly all environmental issues raised by communities from across North America and will fail to protect people and the planet from toxic pollution at the local, national and international levels.

In response to the vote, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth U.S., issued the following statement: 

Despite the severity of the global climate crisis, Trump’s USMCA fails to even mention, much less address climate change. Just a week after the United Nations climate summit, Speaker Pelosi is ramrodding through a trade agreement that will accelerate climate change. 

Despite the existential threat that global warming poses, Democrats are voting to pass the USMCA, pushing the planet further toward climate chaos. As this trade deal begins to poison communities with toxic pollution, we hope our congressional representatives have a plan to deal with the havoc this deal will have on climate and public health. 

Expert contact: Doug Norlen, (510) 900-3143, dnorlen@foe.org
Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

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Trump’s NAFTA 2.0 would ramp up global warming and hamstring efforts to reduce the production and burning of fossil fuels. It would similarly undercut sustainable agricultural, biotechnology, food safety and other current and future environmental regulations.

Following time necessary to comply with disclosure and review requirements, Congressional action could potentially occur early in the next Congressional session.

In response to the new text, Doug Norlen, Friends of the Earth’s Director of Economic Policy, issued the following statement:

Trump’s trade agreement with Mexico and Canada is a corporate giveaway intended to sharply limit the powers of government to protect people and the planet.

The agreement continues to give polluting transnational companies greater rights than governments and citizens. This agreement is an attack on our ability to hold Big Oil and Gas accountable for the damage they cause to our communities. If this trade agreement moves forward, citizens in  all three countries must continue our fight to protect the very food, air and water our communities need to survive.

Additionally, Gustavo Castro Soto, Director of Friends of the Earth Mexico, issued the following statement:

Trump’s and Peña Nieto’s NAFTA 2.0 agreement gives power to corporations to harm people, communities and collective rights, which will damage the environment, worsen poverty, and lead to human rights abuses in both countries.  It worsens an international trend toward giving corporations increasing power over governments.

Expert contact: Doug Norlen, (510) 900-3143. DNorlen@foe.org
Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

The post Trump’s NAFTA Deal Great for Big Oil, Bad for Global Climate and Local Communities appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

Trump believes that under the terms of trade promotion authority (or TPA) legislation, he must give Congress notice 90 days in advance of consideration of a new trade agreement. However, some trade policy experts believe TPA provisions providing for a quick up or down vote would not apply to a bilateral agreement such as Trump’s current deal with Mexico. That said, Canada might join the deal later, potentially resolving that question.

Congressional action on NAFTA 2.0 can be expected in November after the mid-term elections.

Bill Waren, senior trade analyst at Friends of the Earth, has released this statement:

Trump’s haphazard NAFTA deal is an across-the-board threat to essential environmental and public health protections. NAFTA 2.0 would ramp up global warming and hamstring efforts to sharply reduce the production and burning of fossil fuels. It would similarly undercut sustainable agricultural, biotechnology, food safety and other current and future environmental regulations. Trump’s trade agreement with Mexico is a corporate giveaway intended to sharply limit the powers of government to protect people and the planet.

Expert contact: Bill Waren, (202) 277-3505, WWaren@foe.org
Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

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Bill Waren, senior trade analyst at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:

Any new NAFTA deal negotiated by Donald Trump will be an across-the-board threat to environmental and public health safeguards. Trump’s new trade deal could roll back regulation of dangerous chemicals such as those associated with breast cancer, autism, or infertility.

From neonicotinoid pesticides, which are killing our pollinators, to new provisions on autos and fossil fuels, Trump’s deal with Mexico will jeopardize our health and our planet. Trump’s new NAFTA deal must be stopped.

Expert contact: William Waren, (202) 222-0746, WWaren@foe.org
Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

The post Trump Strikes Trade Deal with Mexico appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

The meeting between United States President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Wednesday is widely seen as a crucial step to avoiding a full-blown trade war. But the content of the vaguely worded joint statement is deeply worrying for people on both sides of the Atlantic. If the U.S. and the EU follow through with their commitments, the new trade relationship would mean more fracking in the U.S. and an attack on European standards for genetically modified organisms, chemicals and other sensitive issues. But this should be no surprise, since both sides prioritize corporate interests over environmental and social concerns in their trade policy.

Trump’s trade policies cater to big business lobbyists, especially when it comes to the fine print. For example, the U.S. is pushing China to ease the approval process and importation of genetically modified crops. American negotiators are trying to restrict labelling of junk food in the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation process, while environmental organizations are concerned that a NAFTA 2.0 would exacerbate pollution and climate change.

Throw in the attempt by the Trump administration to use the economic and political power of the U.S. to extract maximum concessions from its trading partners and its attacks on international labor standards, and the current trade policy mostly looks like more of the same for big business — in a nationalist cloak.

But the European Union’s supposedly “free and fair trade” strategy is also not the solution. Outside of some rhetoric, the EU continues to pursue corporate interests in its trade deals at the expense of people and the planet.

A case in point are the ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement with Indonesia — the fifth most populous country on the planet, one of the fastest growing economies and therefore a potentially lucrative market for European companies. Apart from some flowery language in the chapter dealing with sustainable development — which the EU refuses to equip with a proper enforcement mechanism — the core chapters of the agreement do not take sustainability criteria into account. There is no intention to promote the exchange of sustainable products or reduce the trade in unsustainable ones. The agreement scored only 4.5/20 points on Friends of the Earth Europe’s sustainability test.

The EU plans to create a tribunal that would enable foreign investors to sue governments for rules and regulations that protect people and the environment when they interfere with their profit expectations. It is called the Investment Court System — a slightly reformed version of the infamous investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, which is just as dangerous. After being sued by several mining companies, the Indonesian government started to terminate agreements with corporate court provisions, including with European countries. Now, the EU is attempting to lock in corporate courts in the new trade deal with Indonesia.

Similar trade deals are currently being negotiated and concluded by the EU with a number of countries around the world, including Mexico, Chile, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and other countries. This is no plan to protect ordinary citizens, or the planet.

So what should progressives do?

We need to oppose both the EU’s neoliberal free trade policy and Trump’s nationalist approach and advocate for a radically different trade model that puts people and the environment at its center. Such a model would foster the trade of sustainable goods and services rather than focusing on increasing trade flows; support sustainable agriculture and regional trade rather than a global trade in agricultural commodities; and create a framework to hold corporations to account internationally rather than granting investors more privileges.

While the Presidents of the United States and the European Union are cooking up a new deal that would only benefit large corporations and polluting industries, it is up to movements and civil society on both sides of the Atlantic to work together and push for a new model of international trade that puts sustainability, human rights, and democracy at its heart.

Header photo features Donald Trump, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and European Council President Donald Tusk. Image via Shealah Craighead / Official White House Photo

The post Why the US and EU trade models are both bad for people and the planet appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

Any trade deal that Trump negotiates is likely to have a raft of anti-environment provisions. The Administration’s stated NAFTA negotiating objectives reinforce concerns that Trump plans to use a new NAFTA to hamstring effective environmental regulation across the board. NAFTA rules include some that are enforced by government-to-government lawsuits before panels of trade lawyers. Those panels have the authority to impose retaliatory trade sanctions such as higher tariffs on the exports of countries that fail to roll back regulations. This process presents a threat to sensible environmental and climate policies. Trump’s NAFTA plan would also establish a regulatory review process would establish inappropriate procedures like mutual recognition of safety standards and a bureaucratic process for identifying alleged excessive burdens on business.

With the November midterm elections approaching, Trump’s posturing on trade appears to be an electoral strategy, an attempt to help secure working class votes in the same Midwestern industrial states he won.

Trump will likely seek to peel off white working-class voters in the Midwest with his “America First” trade message and try to rile them up with his openly racist rhetoric about Latino immigrants and African-Americans. He seeks to shatter the progressive coalition of grassroots trade unionists, environmentalists and minority groups.

As Robert Kuttner wrote in The American Prospect, “Trump’s opposition to the agreement (NAFTA) is a cynical ploy to grab working class votes…If no deal is reached, a NAFTA pullout may yet be a different sort of win for Trump with his nationalist base.”

Ideally, NAFTA should be renegotiated to encourage equitable free trade across North America while enforcing strong environmental and labor standards and rolling back chapters that undercut strong environmental, public health, food safety and other sensible regulatory safeguards.

Unfortunately, there is no doubt that any new trade deal negotiated by Trump, including NAFTA, would be a disaster for people the planet. That’s because the entire Trump Administration is determined to gut environmental protections and hand our lands and waters over to corporate polluters.

Trump’s record speaks for itself:

• Trump and his administration dismantled national monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, and opened our public lands to fossil fuel development and other destruction.
• Trump appointed Scott Pruitt, a corrupt crony of the fossil fuel industry, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt was forced to resign, but not before he began the process to eviscerate the EPA from the inside, rolling back countless environmental protections and stamping down science at the agency. Now, ex-fossil fuel lobbyist Andrew Wheeler has replaced Pruitt and plans to continue his environmentally disastrous agenda.
• Trump is promoting a global “Clean Coal Alliance” to encourage the construction of coal power plants in the developing world, including sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
• Trump’s Justice Department gave a green light to the Bayer-Monsanto merger, which will give only four corporations control of the vast majority of seeds and agrochemicals, threatening farmers, consumers and the environment.
• Trump wants to dramatically increase oil and gas drilling in the Western Arctic, threatening wildlife and ramping up global warming.
• Trump plans to roll back essential environmental and health regulations related to biotechnology, GMOs and organic animal welfare.
• Trump and his Administration have notoriously denied that burning fossil fuels is accelerating climate change in such venues as the Paris Climate Conference and the annual United Nations Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany.

As Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth, warns us:

Trump has proven again and again that he acts only in service of corporate polluters, industry insiders, and the corrupt cronies he’s packed our government with. This administration is hell bent on destroying essential protections that safeguard our public health and protect our planet for future generations. Coal companies are now free to pilfer our public lands, power plants can release countless toxins into the air, and Big Oil is giddy at the thought of drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. The water we drink, the air we breathe, and our sacred public spaces and lands are more threatened than they ever have been. Impacts on public health are already being felt, particularly by frontline neighborhoods and communities of color.

During his campaign for president, Donald Trump made false assurances that he would rework NAFTA to protect the American people. However, Trump’s rhetoric and actions since taking office demonstrate that he is using NAFTA renegotiation to amplify his war on the planet and to expose the American people to dangerous pollution, unsafe products, and catastrophic global warming.

Header image via Mother Jones.

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