WASHINGTON – United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai today delivered pre-recorded remarks at the White House Council on Native American Affairs Native Women’s Economic Symposium.
In her remarks, Ambassador Tai emphasized the importance of Native women’s economic empowerment for American competitiveness. Ambassador Tai also highlighted how the Biden-Harris Administration is using trade to advance Native women’s equity and equality and facilitate fairer economic growth.
Ambassador Tai’s remarks as delivered are below:
Hello, everyone! I’m Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative.
As a member of the White House Council on Native Americans, it’s an honor to join you virtually during the Native Women’s Economic Symposium.
Women’s economic empowerment – especially for Native women – is important to our nation’s competitiveness.
In my role as the U.S. Trade Representative, I’m focused on advancing a worker and people-centered trade policy that serves this goal.
Under President Biden’s leadership, our Administration has been writing a new story on trade. One that brings more voices to the table and incorporates their priorities into our policies.
This is critical to crafting a trade policy that is grounded in equity and fairness.
Our goal is to empower you to compete and thrive in a global marketplace. To advance Native women’s equity, equality, and economic empowerment – as workers, entrepreneurs, and consumers.
This is at the heart of everything we’re doing at USTR – including our new initiatives in the Indo-Pacific, the Western Hemisphere, and our discussions with Kenya and Taiwan. And we’re working with Tribal leaders and others to inform our engagements.
We also need to better understand how trade affects different communities across the United States.
That’s why I asked the U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent government agency, to investigate the distributional effects of trade on workers and Tribal communities.
An initial report from the USITC showed that we need more disaggregated data on the impact of trade on Native and Indigenous workers, including and especially women. So, we’re partnering with other government colleagues to fill that gap.
Going forward, I am committed to building on our efforts to advance a trade policy agenda that supports economic empowerment for native women and facilitates fairer and more equitable growth.
You all are invaluable partners in this endeavor. I look forward to working with you in the months ahead, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the symposium.
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