WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2020 — Machinists Union International President Robert Martinez Jr. released the following statement regarding a reported “mini” U.S.-Brazil trade deal:
“If recent reports are true, the Trump administration is working on a trade deal that will send more U.S. jobs out of our country, this time to Brazil. As reported today, in announcing the new pact, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ‘urged U.S. companies to learn more about the incentives that Brazil is offering to attract more foreign investment from the U.S.’”
“Despite all of his promises and all of his boasts, this deal is yet another example of Trump’s broken promises to U.S. workers. Dozens of Machinists Union-represented facilities have closed since Trump took office.
“We are still waiting for all of our jobs to come back from Mexico and China, as Trump promised they would. Instead, U.S. jobs continue to flow to Mexico and China unabated. As recently reported, Carlisle Companies is shutting down its assembly plant in Kent, Wash. and throwing nearly 600 people out on the street. Guess where they are moving the work? Mexico and China, where wage rates and labor standards are low, and in some cases, non-existent.
“U.S. workers are tired of an administration that says one thing and then does another. Americans cannot afford four more years of Donald Trump.”
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is among the largest industrial trade unions in North America and represents nearly 600,000 active and retired members in the manufacturing, aerospace, defense, airlines, transportation, shipbuilding, woodworking, health care, and other industries.