Lori M. Wallach discusses her activities during the years of the Obama presidency, throughout which she was director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch division. Wallach describes her work at Public Citizen, speaks widely about the history and politics of recent U.S. global trade policy, and evaluates the Obama administration's approach to international trade and the negotiation of major free t rade agreements. She provides details about her advocacy surrounding the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment Act of 2009 and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and characterizes relations between the Obama administration's international economic staff and stakeholders in Congress and outside of government. Wallach also discusses the long-term continuity of neoliberal trade policy across successive presidential administrations; the Obama administration's promotion of TPP around the time of the 2016 general election; the economic consequences of the North American Free Trade Agreement; and the effects of Democratic presidents' support of free trade agreements toward relations with the historic base of the Democratic Party
Presidents--United States; International trade--Government policy--United States; Wallach, Lori; Obama, Barack; Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch; North American Free Trade Agreement; Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
43 pages
Note (Biographical)
Lori Wallach is a prominent American attorney and trade expert who has spent over twenty-five years advocating for progressive trade policies. Throughout the years of the Obama presidency, she was director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch divisi on, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting government and corporate accountability in trade policy. Wallach has been a leading voice in the fight against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other trade agreements that threaten the interests of working people. At the time of the interview, Wallach was director of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project
Note
Interviewed by Kimberly Springer on October 1, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Lori M. Wallach, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023