Voters Want U.S. Workers to Be Prioritized in Trade Deals
By Rob Todaro
Former President Donald Trump campaigned hard on the issue of trade in 2016, particularly his opposition to free trade agreements, such as NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and his support for worker protections. However, during Trump’s presidency, he put in place several trade tariffs that negatively impacted consumers, and his North American trade agreement, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), “delivered big wins” to industries like pharmaceuticals and big tech. While President Biden has kept many of Trump’s tariffs in place, the administration has advocated for “worker-centered” trade policies and against giving more power to global corporations.
New Data for Progress polling finds that likely voters support prioritizing U.S. workers and holding big corporations accountable when it comes to foreign trade deals.
When voters are asked whom they trust more to handle issues related to trade deals with other countries, a majority pick Trump (51%) over Biden (44%). This is in line with polling from Data for Progress and others that finds Trump holds a trust advantage on issues relating to the economy.
Voters also say that they prefer trade deals with more regulations, as opposed to fewer regulations, to ensure businesses treat U.S. workers and consumers fairly.
Furthermore, a majority of voters say executives of large corporations “already have enough influence” in determining trade policy with other countries. An additional 28% say executives of large corporations should have less influence, while only 11% think they should have more.
Despite initially placing more trust in Trump, when voters are informed that some consumer groups and labor unions say Trump’s trade deals were too favorable to the pharmaceutical and big tech industries — and that President Biden has been tougher on trade deals involving those industries — a majority of voters say that Biden has done the right thing.
These findings highlight that while voters initially place their trust in Trump when it comes to trade policy, they prefer the pro-worker protections and corporate accountability that the Biden administration has promoted.
Rob Todaro (@RobTodaro) is the Communications Director at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From February 2 to 5, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,225 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.