Refusing to Be Silenced: Independent Hearing on Trade and Inequality

Corporate-driven trade agreements impact virtually everyone — but the harms caused aren’t felt equally.

When the Trump administration cancelled scheduled government hearings on the impacts of current trade policies on women, people of color, senior citizens, people with disabilities and others communities, the Washington Fair Trade Coalition moved forward with an independent hearing on trade and inequality anyway — providing a platform for people to share their experiences.

Core findings from their hearing include that existing, corporate-driven trade policies have led to:

• Widespread job loss and offshoring in industrial and other sectors
• Wage stagnation and union suppression
• Increased economic displacement and forced migration
• Environmental degradation tied to trade infrastructure and deregulation
• The expansion of Big Tech monopolies and erosion of digital rights through trade rules that undermine privacy, AI accountability, and the right to repair

Disproportionate harm to communities of color, immigrants, and women and queer workers includes:

• Fewer safety nets: Women, queer, immigrant, and BIPOC workers often lack generational wealth or savings to recover from trade-related job loss.
• Wage suppression: Trade-driven wage decline hits lowest-paid workers hardest—especially women of color, queer, and undocumented workers.
• Scapegoating: Migrants and communities of color are blamed for economic harm caused by trade deals, fueling racism and xenophobia.
• Environmental racism: Trade policies concentrate pollution and resource extraction in communities of color, worsening health and displacement.
• Gendered austerity impacts: Cuts to public services hit women and queer people hardest, especially those in caregiving roles.
• Deepened inequities: Trade-related job loss, housing instability, and healthcare cuts compound harm in BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities.

Through education, advocacy and coalition-building the Washington Fair Trade Coalition and other Citizens Trade Campaign affiliates seek to make trade policies more equitable and inclusive.