AP: Obama's Nike stop puts focus on outsourcing, labor standards (TPP)

[Omaha Steve]

The POTUS used to wear things Made in the USA.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150508/us--obama-trade-3c466bf848.html

May 7, 10:09 PM (ET)

By JIM KUHNHENN and GOSIA WOZNIACKA

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — No doubt President Barack Obama is fond of Nike. Golf outings often find him decked out from head to toe in apparel featuring the emblematic company swoosh. Now the president is putting the company logo on his trade agenda.

On Friday, the president will visit Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, to make his trade policy pitch as he struggles to win over Democrats for what could be a last major legislative push of his presidency. But in choosing the giant company that makes sneakers and athletic wear as his backdrop, Obama has stirred a hornet's nest.

Nike, a major exporter, employs more than 8,500 workers in Oregon, many in well-paying design, research or marketing jobs. But of Nike's slightly more than 1 million factory contract workers, more than nine out of 10 are in Asia, with the largest number in low-wage Vietnam.

"It is a perverse place to try to go and sell a trade agreement that the American public thinks would make it easier to offshore our jobs and push down our wages," said Lori Wallach, the director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.

FULL story at link.



President Barack Obama smiles as he greets people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, May 7, 2015. On Friday, the president will visit Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., to make his trade policy pitch as he struggles to win over Democrats for what could be the last major legislative push of his presidency. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)