FIRST IN MORNING TRADE: For years, the Biden administration has talked about supporting workers’ rights overseas. But outside of this hemisphere, it had few tangible examples. Now we have another one, uncovered on a recent trip to the Philippines. The Biden administration, Morning Trade has learned, has pressed the Philippine government on its practice of “red-tagging” — or labeling activists and journalists as communists, opening them up to harassment, arrest and even murder. Labor pressure: Philippine union leaders raised concerns about the safety of labor and other activists during a meeting with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan last December. The Biden administration subsequently raised the issue with a Philippine government representative in Washington. That’s according to Philippines Secretary of Labor Bienvenido Laguesma, who confirmed the pressure from the Biden administration during a press conference on the sidelines of a labor and employment conference in Manila. Laguesma said that the U.S. had raised the concern with “our labor attaché in Washington, and this item is actually under discussion.” But he denied that the current government, led by President Ferdinand Marcos Junior, harassed or threatened activists. The outreach from the U.S. on labor concerns is a subtle but significant action from the Biden administration to advance workers’ rights overseas — a central plank of the president’s so-called “worker-centered” trade policy. It comes after the administration’s zealous enforcement of anti-union busting rules in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and some voluntary labor rules in the supply chain portion of its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The news also shows the administration’s willingness to bring up sensitive issues with a key ally on the front lines of the new Cold War with China. Both the White House and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to comment on the consultations. But USTR Katherine Tai appeared to confirm the pressure independently during a speech last week to the Communication Workers of America. There, she announced the launch of a labor working group with the Manila government and offered her condolences for the murder of a Filipino labor activist, Alex Dolorosa, saying it is “truly unacceptable that the Philippines labor movement has endured so much loss” since last spring when she visited the country. “We know the chilling effect that violence has on the labor movement,” she said. “And the United States, at all levels, has deep concerns about extra-judicial killings of labor organizers. Across our administration, we are asking for a formal government-to-government channel to discuss labor concerns with the Government of Philippines.” Labor activists we spoke to in Manila welcomed the Biden administration’s move, but they say they want to see more than just rhetoric from the U.S. to support labor rights in their country. Josua Mata, a union leader who met with Sullivan, said “several months have passed,” since that discussion, “yet the Philippine government seems to be dismissive of these grave concerns.” Gavin has more from his trip to the Philippines here.
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