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      Cómo el TLCAN arruinó la política de EE. UU.

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      [Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]En mayo del año pasado, Marcus Carli, director de la fábrica Master Lock de Milwaukee, Wisconsin, convocó por sorpresa una reunión con la junta directiva del sindicato local 469 de United Auto Workers (UAW, por su sigla en inglés). Varios directivos del sindicato, que representa a los trabajadores de la planta, se reunieron con Carli y un ejecutivo de la empresa matriz de Master Lock en una pequeña sala de conferencias. Carli llevó a un guardia de seguridad. “Está aquí para protegerme”, les dijo Carli a los representantes sindicales. Cuando el guardia se sentó, Yolanda Nathan, la nueva presidenta del sindicato, se fijó en su pistola. “En ese momento pensé: ‘Ah, vamos a perder nuestro trabajo’”, dice. De inmediato, Carli confirmó sus peores temores. “La planta va a cerrar”, anunció. “Me dejó sin aliento”, dijo Nathan. “Nos quitó el aliento a todos”.Media hora más tarde, los trabajadores del primer turno de la planta fueron convocados a una reunión en la antigua cafetería. Una hilera de mesas separaba a los funcionarios de los trabajadores. “La planta va a cerrar”, repitió Carli. Se negó a aceptar preguntas. “Solo nos lanzaron la bomba”, dijo Jeremiah Hayes, quien trabajaba en la planta de tratamiento de aguas residuales de la empresa. Sobre todo, le molestó la barrera improvisada: “Era insultante. Nos sentíamos como animales”.Mike Bink, que empezó a trabajar en Master Lock en 1979, estaba desolado pero no sorprendido. Meses antes, un compañero cuyo trabajo consistía en fabricar placas de acero que se introducían en una máquina para fabricar un cuerpo de cerradura le dijo a Bink que ahora las placas se enviaban a la planta de Master Lock en Nogales, México. Esa fábrica se construyó en la década de 1990, no mucho después de que el presidente Bill Clinton promulgara el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, y la empresa eliminó más de 1000 de los casi 1300 puestos sindicales de Milwaukee. “La gente salió corriendo por la puerta”, dice Bink, que entonces era presidente del Local 469. “Pensaban que la planta estaba acabada”. Bink aguantó, pero el TLCAN cambió de manera radical el equilibrio de poder entre Master Lock y sus trabajadores. “Un supervisor de la planta decía cosas como: ‘Pónganse a trabajar o la empresa cerrará todos los puestos’”, recuerda Bink. “Tras la reducción de plantilla, el sindicato perdió su influencia”.En marzo, el cierre de las instalaciones donde se fabricaron cerraduras emblemáticas durante generaciones, representó la etapa final de la larga decadencia de Milwaukee como potencia industrial, parte de un fenómeno mayor, impulsado por el TLCAN, que se ha producido en todo el país, especialmente en los estados del Cinturón del Óxido. El TLCAN eliminó los aranceles sobre el comercio entre los signatarios del tratado —Canadá, México y Estados Unidos— y permitió la libre circulación de capitales e inversiones extranjeras. Marcó el comienzo de una era de acuerdos de libre comercio que llevaron productos baratos a los consumidores y generaron una gran riqueza para los inversionistas y el sector financiero, pero también aumentó la desigualdad de ingresos, debilitó a los sindicatos y aceleró el vaciamiento de la base industrial de Estados Unidos.Mike Bink, expresidente de Local 469, que representaba a los trabajadores sindicales de Master Lock, trabajó en la planta durante 44 años. Lyndon French para The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Los Obama y el humor: qué pasó en el día 2 de la convención demócrata

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      Barack y Michelle Obama electrizaron a la multitud, mientras que Doug Emhoff, marido de la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris, compartió anécdotas de la primera cita con su esposa.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]El martes, los demócratas recurrieron a sus líderes más carismáticos y viraron hacia el futuro, mientras el expresidente Barack Obama y Michelle Obama, la ex primera dama, defendían que la candidatura de su partido representaba lo mejor de los valores estadounidenses.Mientras la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris y su compañero de fórmula, Tim Walz, participaban en un mitin en Milwaukee, los asistentes a la convención completaban una estruendosa votación presencial de los estados mientras abarrotaban el United Center de Chicago. Con el presidente Joe Biden fuera del escenario y de vacaciones en California, parecía que una energía optimista se apoderó de los actos.Estos son algunos de los momentos más destacados de la segunda noche de la convención:Michelle Obama presentó a su marido tras un discurso propio que cautivó al público de la convención.Todd Heisler/The New York TimesLos Obama demostraron que siguen teniendo un singular poder de estrellasLos demócratas tienen sus estrellas, nuevas y viejas: Gretchen Whitmer y Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez y Andy Beshear, Bill y Hillary Clinton.Pero el martes, los Obama demostraron una vez más que pueden inspirar al partido como nadie. La multitud reunida en Chicago ha mostrado un entusiasmo renovado desde que comenzó la convención, pero sus discursos consecutivos fueron un momento importante.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Test Your Knowledge of Chicago, the D.N.C. Host City

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      The Democrats are arriving in Chicago, the country’s third-largest city, for their first in-person convention in eight years. The gathering comes at a pivotal time for the party, which switched its presidential nominee only weeks ago, and for the city, which is regaining its swagger after a pandemic slump.How much do you know about Chicago? Take our quiz to find out. More

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      Donald Trump no puede superar que Biden ya no es su rival

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      En una conferencia de prensa en Florida, Trump dijo que “la presidencia le fue arrebatada a Joe Biden” por un grupo de demócratas que incluye a Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi y Kamala Harris.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]Por lo que cuenta el expresidente Donald Trump, acaba de quedar con el corazón roto por todo lo que le ha pasado al pobre presidente Joe Biden estas últimas semanas.“Le quitaron la presidencia a Joe Biden”, dijo Trump en una conferencia de prensa en Mar-a-Lago, su club privado y residencia en Palm Beach, Florida, el jueves por la tarde. “No soy su fan, como probablemente se habrán dado cuenta. Tuvo un debate duro. Pero eso no significa que se le haga a un lado así como así”.Han pasado 18 días desde que el 46º presidente fue apartado por su propio partido, y el 45º aún no lo ha superado. Trump se angustió por Biden, contando una historia de traición perpetrada contra este por el expresidente Barack Obama, la expresidenta de la Cámara de Representantes Nancy Pelosi y, sobre todo, la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris.Recordó cómo Harris había atacado a Biden en un debate de las primarias demócratas en 2019: “Ella fue despreciable al llamarlo racista y el bus escolar y todas esas distintas cosas”. Trump dijo que Biden había cometido un grave error al elegirla como su compañera de fórmula.“Por alguna razón, y sé que él lo lamenta —ustedes también—, la eligió a ella”, dijo Trump. “Y ella también se puso en contra de él. Ella estaba trabajando con la gente que lo quería fuera”. (Tras 27 minutos de abandonar la carrera, Biden apoyó la candidatura de Harris a la presidencia).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Donald Trump Can’t Get Over What Happened to President Biden

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      To hear former President Donald J. Trump tell it, he has just been heartsick over all that has happened to poor old President Biden these past few weeks.“The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday afternoon. “I’m not a fan of his, as you probably have noticed. He had a rough debate. But that doesn’t mean that you just take it away like that.”It has been 18 days since the 46th president was shoved aside by his own party, and the 45th president has yet to get over it. He agonized on Mr. Biden’s behalf, telling a tale of treachery perpetrated against him by former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and, most of all, Vice President Kamala Harris.Recounting how Ms. Harris had attacked Mr. Biden in a Democratic primary debate in 2019 — “She was nasty with calling him a racist and the school bus and all of the different things” — Mr. Trump said Mr. Biden had made a grave mistake by choosing her as his running mate.“For some reason, and I know he regrets it — you do, too — he picked her,” Mr. Trump said. “And she turned on him, too. She was working with the people that wanted him out.” (Mr. Biden endorsed Ms. Harris for president 27 minutes after he dropped out of the race.)There was none of the usual, malicious glee in Mr. Trump’s voice as he rehashed all the drama. He told reporters that Mr. Biden was trying to “put up a good face” but that his exit from the race was “pretty severe” and “pretty horrible.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Prosecutors Preview Aggressive Strategy in Hunter Biden’s Tax Case

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      They stopped short of accusing Mr. Biden of violating foreign lobbying laws but said they would show how foreign interests paid him to influence the government while his father was vice president.Prosecutors signaled in a court filing on Wednesday that they intended to mount an aggressive strategy in Hunter Biden’s tax trial in California, saying they would show how foreign interests paid him to influence the U.S. government while his father was vice president.The special counsel in the case, David C. Weiss, has wrangled for weeks with Mr. Biden’s lawyers over what evidence can be introduced when he is to be tried in September on charges of evading taxes on millions in income from foreign businesses. Already, Mr. Weiss has overseen Mr. Biden’s conviction tied to the purchase of a gun in Delaware in 2018.Mr. Biden’s team had moved to disqualify evidence about his lucrative foreign business activities and lifestyle from a time when he was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol. Mr. Weiss’s deputies rejected those arguments on Wednesday, in a preview of what promises to be a bare-knuckled courtroom strategy.Prosecutors stopped short of accusing Mr. Biden of violating foreign lobbying laws, which are not among the charges for which he faces trial. While they intend to introduce evidence that Mr. Biden and his business partners contacted government officials, they said they did not plan to accuse him of having “improperly coordinated with the Obama administration.”Instead, they plan to cite evidence related to his foreign business dealings to prove how he willfully engaged in a scheme to obtain vast amounts of cash without paying taxes.To that end, prosecutors said they would introduce testimony from an American business associate of Mr. Biden’s to detail a lucrative arrangement with a Romanian real estate magnate who faced corruption charges at home.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Willful Amnesia Behind Trump’s Attacks on Kamala Harris’s Identity

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      When I was a child, my dad sat my older sister and me down in our living room and explained to us the rules of race in America. A Black man born into a Mississippi where Black boys could be lynched for merely standing too close to a white woman, he met my white mom in 1972. That was just a few years after the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia finally struck down 300 years’ worth of laws prohibiting people who descended from slavery from marrying people whose ancestors had enslaved them. In other words, Dad held no illusions about how race worked in our society and felt it was his duty as a parent to prepare us. Our mother might be white, he told us, but in this country, that fact was irrelevant to how we would be seen and treated. She might be white, but we were Black.What my dad said that day when I was an elementary school student merely confirmed an understanding that I already had. I grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins and my grandmama from my dad’s side as just another child in a big Black family, my mom most often the only white person at family events. Several times a year, we’d travel about an hour out of town to rural Iowa, where we’d spend time with my white grandparents, who loved us dearly but who existed in a completely white world that we were never quite fully a part of.I cannot say exactly how I knew I was Black before my dad sat us down, but I knew. Everyone knew. With my white family I was not white but part white. With my Black family and in the rest of America, I was Black. In American society, this race rule is so embedded that it is not even questioned.Last week, former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, told a room full of Black journalists that Vice President Kamala Harris, whose mother was Indian and whose father is Jamaican, “was always of Indian heritage” and “now wants to be known as Black.” When he did so, he was embracing a convenient historical amnesia about the country he seeks to lead.By suggesting that there was something nefarious or politically contrived about a mixed-race person claiming Blackness as her identity, he was acting as if that choice hadn’t been made for Harris when she was born to a Black father. We saw this same orchestrated amnesia when Barack Obama set out to become the first Black president. It seems that when a mixed-race Black American appears to be ascending to the pinnacles of American power, some white Americans suddenly forget the race rules that white society created.Trump’s questioning of Harris’s Black bona fides was swiftly denounced because Harris has long identified as Black, recounting a similar story to mine about her Indian mother explaining Harris’s Blackness to her as a child. In her 2019 autobiography, Harris wrote: “My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.” And of course, Harris would go on to graduate from one of the most prestigious historically Black universities where she had joined the nation’s oldest Black sorority.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Harris Responds to Trump’s Comments About Her Identity: ‘Divisiveness and Disrespect’

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      Vice President Kamala Harris carefully hit back at former President Donald J. Trump after he questioned the legitimacy of her identity as a Black woman, saying on Wednesday that he had put on the “same old show” of “divisiveness and disrespect.”“The American people deserve better,” Ms. Harris said at a convention of Sigma Gamma Rho, one of the nation’s most prominent Black sororities. “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us — they are an essential source of our strength.”But she did not directly quote or refer to Mr. Trump’s comments earlier on Wednesday in Chicago, where he had asked of Ms. Harris: “Is she Indian or is she Black?” He had also falsely claimed that Ms. Harris used to identify as Indian and then “all of a sudden, she made a turn, and she became a Black person.”The vice president is of Jamaican and Indian heritage, and attended Howard University, a historically Black university.Ms. Harris’s precisely calibrated rebuttal was perhaps an early indication of how she will respond to crude and racist attacks from Mr. Trump. Former President Barack Obama largely ignored Republicans, led by Mr. Trump, who falsely accused him of being born in Kenya.Her remarks on Wednesday came after she has sought to place her campaign on the continuum of racial progress in America, referring to it in the same breath as abolitionists and civil rights activists.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More