By Jenna Beresheim Staff Writer
President Barack Obama arrived in Portland May 7 as part of a multi-faceted trip, including a fundraiser and a visit to Nike.
According to OregonLive.com, after the fundraiser, Obama was to “give remarks on free trade at Nike headquarters near Beaverton.”
Routes and specific plans were undisclosed for security reasons. Traffic in Portland intensified with the president’s 20-car escort navigating through the area during May 7 and 8.
“We have to make sure that America writes the rules of the global economy,” Obama said in his speech at Nike, “and we should do it today while our economy is in the position of global strength.”
A 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with correlated fast-track legislation plan was proposed. The agreement would open up commerce amongst the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries.
The trade pact could potentially open up over 10,000 new jobs for American workers through Nike. Reducing tariffs in the U.S. and other countries would allow Nike to manufacture more shoes in the U.S., which in turn would create more manufacturing and engineering jobs locally.
“Nike has factories all around the world, and let’s face it, some of these countries, they don’t have the standards for wages and labor conditions that we have here,” Obama said during his speech.
The hope would be to cause these countries to raise their labor standards, setting a minimum wage and passing safe workplace laws to protect their workers. It would even allow workers the freedom to form their own unions if they chose to do so.
This became a plan that immediately had backlash from the public, and those within the government as well.
Opponents of this proposal planned to protest outside of Nike, while Oregon Senator Ron Wyden joined in the mix by voting against the fast-track proposal.
Wyden, who was mentioned in Obama’s speech, was unable to attend.
Wyden was not the only one fighting this proposal.
The Statesman Journal reported, “more than a dozen other pro-trade Senate Democrats voted against a Republican proposal to begin consideration of legislation that would give Obama fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements.”
60 votes were required for the proposal to pass, with the overall score falling to 52-45, canceling out the President’s ability to fast-track the proposal.
The main focus was not even on the fair trade proposal, but in the way it was proposed by the President. Many people took offense in how Obama addressed individuals, particularly liberal Democrats.
Labor unions were also skeptical of the move. U.S. News quoted Eric Hauser, an American Federation of Labor and Congress Industrial Organizations spokesman who stated that past trade agreements “have taught us that corporate-driven trade policy too often accelerates a global race to the bottom.”
The real question becomes whether the proposal will go through, fast-track or not, and what the impact will be, not only in the U.S. as a country, but in our own home state of Oregon, where Nike’s headquarters lies.
Obama reinforced the idea by echoing Nike’s common slogan of “Just do it.”
