December 14, 2017
This line inexplicably appeared in the middle of an NYT article about a contract between the Communications Workers of America and AT&T which provides job protection and pay increases for 20,000 workers. It also apparently includes a commitment from AT&T to bring some jobs back to the United States.
There is nothing in the piece that identifies any policy being pushed by President Trump which would keep more low- and middle-skilled jobs in the United States. His actions to date do not demonstrate this sort of commitment. For example, he has displayed little interest in reducing the value of the dollar against currencies, which is the most immediate determinant of the relative competitiveness of the United States. He has supported the tax plans being pushed by congressional Republicans, which will altogether exempt the foreign profits of U.S. corporations from being taxed by the United States.
He also has done nothing to increasingly expose more highly skilled workers, like doctors and dentists, to international competition, which would reduce the pressure on less-skilled workers. And, he has pushed measures to increase protectionism for patents and copyrights, as well as imposing rules on digital commerce on our trading partners. These would have the effect of increasing the income of US corporations from foreign countries which would, other things equal, mean increased deficits in the areas that employ and low- and middle-skilled workers.
It seems like the comment about Trump wanting to keep low- and middle-skilled jobs in the United States was largely a throwaway line. It would have been best just to throw it away rather than include it in an otherwise solid article.
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