July 30, 2019

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Business July 30, 2019

U.S.-China Trade Talks Resume

As slow-moving trade talks with China resume this week, NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks with Wendy Cutler, a veteran U.S. trade negotiator.



ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Trade negotiators from China and the U.S. are resuming talks in Shanghai, and both sides are downplaying chances for a real breakthrough.

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LARRY KUDLOW: I wouldn’t expect any grand deal.

SHAPIRO: That’s Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council speaking Friday on CNBC.

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KUDLOW: I think talking to our negotiators, they’re going to kind of reset the stage and hopefully go back to where the talks left off last May.

SHAPIRO: Wendy Cutler is a veteran U.S. trade negotiator, and she joins us to preview the latest season of this long-running drama. Welcome back, Wendy.

WENDY CUTLER: Thank you, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Did last season end on a cliffhanger? Remind us what happened when talks left off in May.

CUTLER: Well, the talks broke down last May, and this was really over the issue of which negotiating text to work off of. The U.S. had sent China a text with about 150 pages of what the U.S. thought had been agreed upon and was quite surprised when China sent the text back with about 30 pages just crossed out of the text. And as a result, the talks broke down.

SHAPIRO: What’s the issue that is making it so difficult for negotiators to make a deal?

CUTLER: There are a lot of difficult issues on the table, including how to address the current tariffs that have been put in place. China wants all those tariffs lifted. The United States wants to keep some in place. And there’s a whole range of what we call structural issues whereby the United States is asking China to curtail its industrial subsidies, to stop its practices of forcing U.S. companies to turn over their technology and to strengthen its intellectual property protection regime, as well as enforcement of its intellectual property laws.

SHAPIRO: Yeah. The U.S. is asking China to make some really sweeping changes beyond who buys what and what they pay for it. Is China seriously entertaining any of this?

CUTLER: My understanding is yes they are. With respect to forced technology transfer, I think China is coming to grips with the fact that this is an unfair trade practice and that they need to change their existing practices trying to force our companies to hand over their technology secrets to their potential Chinese competitors.

SHAPIRO: Wow. If China really did enforce technology transfer, that would be huge. I mean, we’ve heard a lot of American farmers saying, yes, this is painful, but it’ll be worth it in the long run if we get a big breakthrough. That sounds like if it happened, it would be a big breakthrough.

CUTLER: It would be a tremendous breakthrough. But what will be key is that China actually enforces the obligation that it’s undertaken. And that has prevented progress in the past. And that’s why this administration is pressing so hard for a strong enforcement mechanism.

SHAPIRO: President Trump has been very black and white, as he is on so many things, when he discusses this. He says trade wars are easy to win. The standoff has been good for American manufacturers, even though the evidence suggests that’s not necessarily true. Yesterday, he tweeted that, for China, until now, the U.S. has been easy pickings. Is his objective clear here?

CUTLER: I don’t think so, and I think China is confused about what the U.S. is seeking in these negotiations. Some days, it seems to be that the U.S. just wants to see increased purchases and the reduction in the U.S. bilateral trade deficit with China. Other days, it seems these structural issues are the most important. And so this has confused the Chinese, and I think as a result has made this negotiation unnecessarily even more difficult than it would be.

SHAPIRO: President Trump also told reporters today the companies are leaving China to avoid the U.S. tariffs. Is that true? And if so, are they coming to the U.S. or are they going to some other country like Vietnam that doesn’t have similar tariffs?

CUTLER: Well, there are anecdotes of U.S. companies but also Chinese companies that are leaving China in order to evade these tariffs. But at least for China, it seems that they’re moving their operations to Southeast Asia and countries like Vietnam and not coming to the United States.

SHAPIRO: And is China making moves to try to be less reliant on the U.S. market as these talks drag on?

CUTLER: Absolutely. And I think important signal of this is that this coming weekend, China will be for the first time hosting the ministers of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations, trying to unlock those negotiations so a deal could be reached by the end of this year. Unclear about whether this meeting will be successful but, wow, in the same week for the trade minister to be meeting with Ambassador Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin and then later in the week meeting with 15 ministers from all around Asia – what a busy week he’s having.

SHAPIRO: That is former U.S. trade negotiator Wendy Cutler. She’s now vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Thanks for speaking with us.

CUTLER: Well, thank you.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Sports July 30, 2019

U.S. Soccer Argues It Pays Women More Than Men In Latest In Pay Inequality Lawsuit

NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with Rachel Bachman, senior sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal, about the dispute between the U.S. Soccer Federation and the U.S. Women’s Team over pay inequality.



AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

There’s been controversy for years about how the women’s U.S. soccer players get paid less than the men. This is despite the fact that the women are World Cup champions and the men didn’t even qualify last time around. The women’s team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation over this pay gap in March of this year. And now the U.S. Soccer president, Carlos Cordeiro, released a letter yesterday saying that, in recent years, the federation paid the U.S. women’s players more than the men. Now, to talk about this, we’re joined by Rachel Bachman. She’s a senior sports reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

Welcome to the program.

RACHEL BACHMAN: Thanks so much, Audie, great to be here.

CORNISH: So before we get to the new information from the head of U.S. Soccer, why do the women believe they’re being paid less?

BACHMAN: What they’re mainly looking at is what the U.S. Soccer Federation pays to them for playing in national team games. They’re saying that U.S. Soccer pays us significantly less for playing in those games than it pays the men’s national team.

CORNISH: So now this letter, which was released by the U.S. Soccer president, Carlos Cordeiro, he’s saying that, hey, actually, the federation pays the women players more. What’s his claim?

BACHMAN: What U.S. Soccer is doing in this letter is it’s including the salaries that it pays the women to play in the professional league. Now, this is separate from these players’ play for the women’s national team. And the players are saying, look, you’re making an apples to oranges comparison. Our playing in the professional league is separate from what we get or should get from playing on the women’s national team. And U.S. Soccer is saying, no, we’re including everything we spend on you. And that’s the fair way to account for it.

CORNISH: You report that the men’s team has weighed in. What do they say?

BACHMAN: The men’s team has issued a statement today in support of the women saying that they’re fighting for fair compensation and they support them in that fight.

CORNISH: The timing of this is just before the mediation is supposed to begin over the pay discrimination lawsuit. Is the timing important? What’s next with this dispute?

BACHMAN: I think the timing is important, and you could say that U.S. Soccer is trying to defend itself against what’s been months of talk in the public about the U.S. women, certainly the public, many of them falling in love with the women watching them play and win the World Cup.

CORNISH: Right, chants of equal pay echoing through the stadium – right? – when they won.

BACHMAN: Yes and again in New York City during the ticker tape parade held to celebrate their victory. So I have no doubt that U.S. Soccer got sort of frustrated by seeing this groundswell feeling like their views weren’t represented. So I think this letter was partly their argument that, hey, our accounting should matter and this is the way we see things.

CORNISH: Is this a sign that U.S. Soccer is not willing to give up without a fight, that despite this kind of very public support that the women have embraced, U.S. Soccer still thinks it has a chance to make an argument here?

BACHMAN: Yes. And we know because Carlos Cordeiro, the federation president, emailed the players yesterday saying, look, we’re getting a lot of heat from our sponsors, from Congress, about this issue. And so we know they’re under extreme pressure, but at the same time, they don’t show signs that they’re going to, you know, shut up and go away. I think that they feel like these issues need to be debated and settled.

CORNISH: That’s Rachel Bachman of The Wall Street Journal.

Thank you so much for your reporting.

BACHMAN: Thank you, Audie, appreciate it.

CORNISH: And one more piece of news about the women’s team today – coach Jill Ellis announced she’s stepping down in October. In a statement, she said, quote, “the timing is right to move on.” She also thanked the federation for its support and investment in the program.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Health July 30, 2019

Trump Signs Extension To Sept. 11 Victims Compensation Fund

After years of legislative gridlock, the victim compensation fund has been extended to ensure permanent funding for rescue workers whose jobs after the terror attacks caused health problems.



STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A 9/11 first responder has a chance to savor victory. President Trump signed a measure ensuring a compensation fund never runs out of money. NPR’s William Jones reports on how that moment looks to a man who fought to bring it about.

WILLIAM JONES, BYLINE: John Feal was a construction worker until his career was cut short in 2001. In the days after 9/11, he was a demolition manager at ground zero when a piece of steel crushed his leg. Part of his foot had to be amputated. And in the years since, he’s been lobbying lawmakers to approve permanent funding for first responders, whose illnesses continue to mount.

JOHN FEAL: Two-hundred and seventy-eight trips to D.C. We’ve been at this for almost two decades now because of poor leadership and bad politics.

JONES: Feal was at a congressional hearing in June. He watched on as his colleagues, some gravely ill, addressed a House committee. He remembers thinking that some lawmakers seemed disengaged, which he told his friend, the comedian Jon Stewart, just as he arrived to testify.

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JON STEWART: Your indifference cost these men and women their most valuable commodity – time.

JONES: Stewart’s comments came as an existing $7.4 billion fund was rapidly depleting, as thousands were becoming ill.

RICHARD ALLEYS: These aren’t just normal cancers; we call it cancer on steroids. They get diagnosed with stage 4. These are aggressive, aggressive cancers, and that’s why we’ve lost so many people.

JONES: That’s Richard Alleys. He was a firefighter at ground zero, and he believes Stewart’s testimony was a turning point.

ALLEYS: He just had that innate ability to put the spotlight on the legislators that could no longer hide.

JONES: After that hearing, legislation extending funding through 2092 to pass the House, but it faced a slightly stiffer opposition in the Senate, where Republicans Rand Paul and Mike Lee led a vote, questioning whether the bill was fiscally responsible. It eventually passed overwhelmingly, leaving the president to sign it into law.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: For your entire lives, you have gone far beyond your duty to us. And today, we strive to fulfill our sacred duty to you.

JONES: After signing the bill, the president handed the pen to John Feal.

FEAL: The financial burden, it’s going to be lifted. This bill is going to help people for decades.

JONES: It ensures his almost 300 trips to D.C. will now have a lasting legacy.

William Jones, NPR News, in Washington.

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Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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