The United States Chamber of Commerce presented its globalist program for the coming year, which includes calling for greater immigration, regardless of its effect on workers in the United States, as well as negotiating new free-trade agreements, regardless of their effects on American jobs.
Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark delivered a speech at the Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting in which she laid out the chamber's agenda for the year on behalf of the multinational companies the Chamber represents in Washington, D.C.
As part of the plan, Clark endorsed unlimited immigration to the U.S., where employers can get as many foreign employees as they like anytime “they need it” by lifting the lid on employment visas.
Earlier, Clark had demanded that Congress double the legal immigration level, which would result in an unprecedented influx of more than two million foreign nationals each year.
Additionally, Clark continued the Chamber's demand for Congress to adopt amnesty legislation for millions of illegal immigrants who are either enrolled in or eligible to participate in the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program.
“Last year, with the strong support and input of the Chamber, there were meaningful bipartisan talks on proposals to secure the border, expand E-Verify, protect Dreamers, and increase the number of employment-based visas—crucial steps to get American businesses the talent they need, when they need it,” Clark said.
A saturated labor market resulting from large-scale immigration to America has had a devastating impact on America's middle and working classes while redistributing wealth to the top one percent of income earners as well as big businesses.
In addition to creating an economy that is tilted in the direction of employers, the mass-immigration economic model has aided in keeping wages low for several decades. Between 1979 and 2013, wage growth for the lowest 90 percent of Americans was just 15 percent. In contrast, the growth in wages for the highest 1 percent of Americans was almost 140 percent higher.
Additionally, Clark urged President Joe Biden's administration to sign more free-trade agreements with foreign nations, whereby companies can more easily offshore American jobs, increasing their profits and also boosting the country's employment-killing trade deficit.
“It has been 10 years since we’ve added a single new partner to that list. Meanwhile, other countries have inked 100 new trade deals without us,” Clark said. “Resume negotiations on a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom…give the U.S. a stronger foothold in the vitally important African continent, where competitors like China are already making strategically significant inroads.”
Between 2001 and 2018, U.S. free trade with China wiped out 3.7 million jobs from the American economy, 2.8 million of them in American manufacturing. In the same time frame, there were at least 50,000 American manufacturing factories shut down.
The enormous job cuts have been correlated with a growing U.S.-China trade gap. In 1985, before China was admitted to the WTO (World Trade Organization), the U.S. trade deficit with China was at $6 billion. In 2019, the U.S. trade deficit with China was more than $345 billion.
In addition, a recent study discovered that permanent U.S. tariffs of 15 to 35 percent on all imports from abroad could create 10 million American job opportunities and more than $600 billion in new revenue. Manufacturing is essential to the U.S. economy, as every manufacturing job supports another 7.4 American jobs in other sectors.
