New Balance, Bernie Sanders, And Trump Agree: The TPP Puts 50 USA Shoe Companies At Risk
Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump agree on very little, but a recent update on the presidential transition by Trump shows the TPP might be one of them. Unfortunately, hatred toward the TPP or similar trade policies led to a decision by New Balance that subsequently caused their fans to threaten to boycott or ban the company for contributing money to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Namely, these former New Balance fans are still outraged by the original statement made by Matthew LeBretton, the VP of public affairs for New Balance, to the Wall Street Journal around November 10.
“The Obama administration turned a deaf ear to us [about trade] and frankly, with President-elect Trump, we feel things are going to move in the right direction.”
After the initial controversy around November 12 on social media against New Balance for supporting Trump with a financial contribution, according to GQ, it was revealed that New Balance also gave Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaign funds, and New Balance stated the following.
“As the only major company that still makes athletic shoes in the United States, New Balance has a unique perspective on trade in that we want to make more shoes in the United States, not less. New Balance publicly supported the trade positions of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump prior to election day that focused on American manufacturing job creation and we continue to support them today.”
The trade position emphasized by New Balance is likely referring to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), and Bernie Sanders is still against the TPP, and so, allegedly, is Trump. On his website, Bernie Sanders stated the reasons that he is against the TPP.
“The TPP follows in the footsteps of other unfettered free trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and the Permanent Normalized Trade Agreement with China (PNTR). These treaties have forced American workers to compete against desperate and low-wage labor around the world. The result has been massive job losses in the United States and the shutting down of tens of thousands of factories.”
Obviously, at the heart of the TPP is a component that could send American factory jobs overseas — a future that neither Bernie Sanders or Trump want.
New Balance would be negatively affected by the TPP, and USA Love List states that there are over 50 companies in America that make shoes.
Although it is not clear if Trump was for or against the TPP in the past, Trump made a recent statement on the TPP on YouTube on November 21.
Trump also made statements about the “closed door” actions (emphasized first by Bernie Sanders) that took place to create the TPP including bans on lobbyists — especially those promoting foreign governments.
Regardless, New Balance is showing they regret their decision to give campaign money to Trump. This is especially true since white supremacists have been announcing that New Balance is the supporter of white supremacy because they gave money to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The Associated Press reported on November 14, that in an interview with New Balance, they stated the company “does not tolerate bigotry or hate in any form.”
NPR wrote on November 19, that New Balance felt, ultimately, that their comments were “taken out of context” when they were only interested in preventing trade policies that could negatively affect their company.
Nevertheless, New Balance appears to be dealing with their online backlash by giving deep discounts for Black Friday. Daily Caller reported on November 25 that this included a 45 percent off option for Black Friday on Amazon.
New Balance might regain supporters that were burning their sneakers in disgust, but many are still upset. Due to the New Balance controversy, there are some anti-Trump Americans that intend to avoid his campaign contributors at all costs.
For example, there is a detailed list at Grab Your Wallet that also lists all of the companies that sell Trump products or services.
Another webpage call DJTR has a list of all of the companies that are Trump campaign contributors, and asks Americans to ban those products.
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[Feature Image by David Becker/Getty Images]
