The House Trade Working Group is gearing up to confront the "free-trade" agenda that has been the dominant policy of the United States for the past 60 years. The organization sent a letter signed by 54 members to President Obama in March, outlining a new trade agenda for the country. They note that President Obama as a candidate proposed a sweeping trade reform agenda, stating that the current trade policies "are not sustainable if they favor the few rather than the many," and now they want to hold him to it.
The House Trade Working Group is headed by Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine), who has become a hero among those in the "fair trade" community. Manufacturing & Technology News editor Richard McCormack spoke with Michaud about how the House Trade Working Group will proceed in the coming year and the obstacles to achieving a new trade policy. Here is what he had to say.