Barack Obama will seek to rally Democratic support for free trade on Friday with a visit to Nike headquarters designed to allay fears of further offshoring of US jobs.
Amid fierce opposition from the president’s own party in Congress, White House officials are aiming to flip perceptions by staging the speech at a shoe giant notorious for its use of low-cost Asian labour but which claims the proposed transpacific partnership (TPP) trade agreement will allow it to create 10,000 new US jobs.
In the run-up to the president’s visit, a Nike company statement argued that reduced tariffs would allow it to better integrate new US factories into its global supply chain and therefore speed up innovation and customisation for domestic consumers.
“We believe agreements that encourage free and fair trade allow Nike to do what we do best: innovate, expand our businesses and drive economic growth,” said the chief executive, Mark Parker.
The counterintuitive argument is expected to attract fierce criticism from union protesters who picketed a political fundraiser Obama held nearby in Oregon on Thursday night.
“We are fully aware that past trade deals have not always lived up to the hype,” said the White House deputy press secretary, Eric Schultz.
“And that is why the president doubled down on his efforts and instructed his negotiating team to really make sure that the labor, environmental, and human rights protections were not just included in maybe a side letter or a side deal that was associated with the trade deal, but written into the text of the deal in a fully enforceable way.”
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