Today, Public Citizen released a new set of fact sheets that track the toll of the NAFTA-WTO era and today’s chaotic trade policies on the workers, farmers, local communities in all 50 states in the U.S., covering lost manufacturing jobs and farms, shuttered factories, battered union membership, depressed wages, falling farm exports, and other effects of bad trade policies.

While this story is often associated only with the industrial Midwest, the latest data show significant job, farm, and income loss across the South and Northeast, as well in other areas of the country often left out of the discussion on trade.

The ongoing impacts of these losses still looms large in political battleground areas, and are especially relevant when talking about working-class politics in post-industrial and rural areas.

“For decades, both parties have promised working people that “free trade” deals would bring good jobs and rising wages,” said Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen. “Instead, initiatives like the NAFTA and the WTO led to massive outsourcing, the closure of thousands of factories, the destruction of millions of good-paying jobs, and left rural and working-class communities abandoned nationwide — and current chaotic and corporate-friendly trade policies have only made matters worse.”

Key Revelations:

• ALMOST EVERY STATE GOT HIT HARD – The U.S. has about 4.4 million fewer manufacturing jobs today than in 1994, when NAFTA went into effect. Nationwide, more than 3 million workers were certified by the U.S. government as losing their jobs to trade policy during this period. The share of manufacturing jobs in 43 states dropped by more than 30% in that period and by more than 50% in 12 states.
• BATTLEGROUND STATES PARTICULARLY IMPACTED – One quarter of manufacturing job losses took place in the seven key 2024 battleground states. Overall, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin lost more than 1 million manufacturing jobs combined. Manufacturing’s share of total jobs in these states fell by nearly 40% on average, and union density fell by 46% on average, 10 points higher than the national average.
• THE DECLINE OF THE INDUSTRIAL HEARTLAND – Nearly one third of national manufacturing job losses came from just six states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Combined, these states lost more than 1,400,000 manufacturing jobs.
• HUGE LOSSES IN THE NORTHEAST – The Northeast, New England plus New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, lost more than 40% of its manufacturing jobs – more than any other region. New York and Rhode Island each lost more than half of their manufacturing jobs.
• THE SOUTHERN RUST BELT – In the Southern states, manufacturing’s share of total jobs dropped by more than 45%, 10 points higher than in the Midwest. This shift was most pronounced in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, where the drop was more than 50%. North Carolina lost 365,000 manufacturing jobs—110,000 more jobs lost than Michigan, 54,000 more than Illinois, and 39,000 more than Ohio and Pennsylvania; and manufacturing’s share of total jobs dropped by 63%, worse than any other state.
• UNION MEMBERSHIP WAS DECIMATED – Ten states saw union density declines of more than 50%, five of which are in the South. Union density declined most in South Dakota, followed by Wisconsin and Arkansas, at 72%, 65%, and 63%, respectively. Nationwide, overall union density fell 35%, while only one state, Vermont, saw an increase.
• FARM LOSSES HIT HARDEST IN THE SOUTH – Of the 10 states that saw the largest proportional declines in the number of farm operations, six are in the South. Tennessee and North Carolina lost more than 30% of their farms, the highest percentage losses of any state. The South lost more than 140,000 farms, more than half from just three states: Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
• WORKERS LEFT WITHOUT RELIEF – Since 2022, Congress has left over 100,000 workers who lost their jobs due to our trade policies stranded by failing to reauthorize the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Almost a quarter of those workers are from just two states – Texas and Oregon. Thirty-two states had more than 1,000 workers who were awaiting assistance at the time.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today demanded that a U.S. manufacturer of electroshock weapons stop sending its devices to Israel following an investigative report revealing their systematic use in the torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees.

According to an investigation published by The Guardian and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, American company Axon Enterprise (formerly Taser International) has continued to supply electroshock Taser weapons and accessories to Israeli security forces despite mounting documentation that these devices are deployed inside detention facilities to inflict severe physical abuse.

Released detainees interviewed in the report detailed horrific accounts of being tightly restrained, doused with water to intensify electric shocks, and repeatedly tortured, leaving lasting physical and psychological scars.

The investigation also highlighted findings from the UN Committee Against Torture regarding a sharp escalation of abuse, sexualized torture, and electrocution inside Israeli detention facilities since October 2023, alongside similar documentation by human rights organizations like Amnesty International.

In a statement, Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said:

"It is unconscionable that equipment manufactured by an American corporation is reportedly being used to carry out acts of torture and abuse against detained Palestinians. Axon must immediately halt all current and future contracts, shipments, and servicing of electroshock weapons to Israeli authorities. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Commerce must rigorously enforce export oversight criteria to block the transfer of technologies to governments implicated in systemic human rights violations."

The nation’s largest and most profitable corporations paid an average federal income tax rate of just 10.4 percent in 2025, the lowest rate documented in more than four decades of research by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), according to a new study released today.

The study examines the current federal income taxes of 706 major U.S. corporations that collectively reported $1.88 trillion in domestic profits last year. Despite these enormous earnings, the companies collectively paid less than half the statutory federal corporate income tax rate of 21 percent, and 114 paid no current federal income tax at all.

The findings illustrate the combined effects of two rounds of corporate tax cuts enacted under President Trump: the 2017 tax law, which slashed the statutory corporate income tax rate from 35 to 21 percent, and the 2025 tax law, which expanded and made permanent lucrative corporate tax breaks.

Among the study’s key findings:

• 114 corporations paid no current federal income tax in 2025, including well-known companies such as Tesla, Walt Disney, CVS, Citigroup, United Airlines, and DoorDash.
• 258 corporations paid effective tax rates below 7 percent, or less than one-third of the statutory rate. Together, these companies reported $683 billion in U.S. profits but paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 1.7 percent.
• The 706 corporations studied received $198 billion in federal tax subsidies by paying less than the statutory 21 percent rate. They also benefited from an additional $263 billion in tax savings attributable to the 2017 reduction of the statutory rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
• Just 25 corporations accounted for more than half of the 2025 tax subsidies. Alphabet ($18.9 billion), Microsoft ($18.7 billion), Amazon ($17.4 billion), and Meta ($13.9 billion) were among the largest beneficiaries.

“These findings show just how dramatically the corporate tax system has been tilted in favor of the nation’s wealthiest and most powerful companies,” said Matt Gardner, ITEP Senior Fellow and co-author of the report. “At a time when lawmakers claim the country cannot afford investments in families and communities, some of the most profitable corporations in American history are paying little or nothing in federal income taxes. This is not an accident. It is the predictable outcome of deliberate policy choices that have steadily eroded the corporate tax base.”

The study finds that corporate tax avoidance is particularly pronounced in several industries. Technology companies collectively paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 10 percent, receiving $68.5 billion in federal tax subsidies. Motor vehicle companies paid just 2.7 percent, while telecommunications companies paid 6.7 percent and aerospace companies paid 7.6 percent.

The research also documents how corporate tax breaks enacted or expanded in Trump’s 2025 tax law have helped some of the nation’s largest tech companies dramatically reduce their tax bills. Provisions allowing companies to immediately deduct investments in equipment and research have provided substantial benefits to corporations making massive investments in artificial intelligence and other technologies.

While these subsidies are frequently promoted as necessary to encourage investment, the report raises questions about why highly profitable corporations should receive billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for spending they may have undertaken regardless.

“Congress has repeatedly chosen to expand tax breaks for corporations that are already extraordinarily profitable,” said Steve Wamhoff, ITEP Federal Policy Director and co-author of the report. “Rather than continuing to subsidize corporate investments and reward aggressive tax avoidance, lawmakers should close these loopholes and ensure that large corporations pay a meaningful share of their profits in taxes.”

ITEP’s analysis draws on annual financial reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by corporations in the Fortune 1000 or S&P 500. The study calculates effective federal income tax rates based on companies’ reported current federal income tax expense relative to their U.S. pretax profits.

The findings continue a series of corporate tax studies conducted by ITEP and Citizens for Tax Justice over more than four decades. The 10.4 percent effective rate in 2025 is even lower than the 11.2 percent rate documented in 1982 following President Reagan’s first round of corporate tax cuts, and the 11.3 percent rate reported in 2018 following Trump’s first tax law.

In nearly two years the Trump administration has protected just three species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act and missed dozens of deadlines to make decisions promised in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workplan. No other administration in the more than 50 years since the law was passed has protected so few animals and plants from extinction.

“The Trump administration is just a pure disaster for the natural world and America’s struggling wildlife will pay the price,” said Noah Greewnwald, endangered species codirector at the Center for Biological Diversity. “To benefit polluters and billionaires the administration is taking a wrecking ball to protections not just for wildlife but also our air, water and climate.”

In 2024 the Service published the fifth version of its workplan since 2016, providing a schedule of protection decisions for hundreds of species by fiscal year (Sept. 30 to Oct. 1) over the next five years. In fiscal year 2026 the Service failed to make scheduled findings for 39 species, leaving wildlife like little brown bats, golden-winged warblers, Arizona toads and more in the lurch.

“Even before Trump species waited far too long for protection,” said Greenwald. “Now massive spending and staffing cuts and contempt for environmental protections mean hundreds of plants and animals won’t get badly needed protections anytime soon, pushing them closer to extinction. It’s truly sad.”

Under the Clinton administration 521 species were protected and under the Obama administration 361 species were protected. Only 22 species were protected under the first Trump administration. To date, the second Trump administration has listed just three Florida reptiles: the Florida Keys mole skink, rim rock crowned snake and the Key ringneck snake. All three were listed following court orders.

In July the Trump administration published a new version of the workplan that dropped decisions for 64 species over the next five years, meaning animals including pygmy rabbits and Florida manatees have no prospects for gaining lifesaving protection.

The Trump-Vance administration has abandoned its appeal in National Council of Nonprofits et al. v. McMahon, a case brought by a broad coalition of nonprofit organizations, more than a dozen local governments, and labor unions against the U.S. Department of Education. The case stopped a new rule that would have allowed the Secretary of Education to disqualify government and nonprofit employers that disagree with the administration’s policies from a program intended to support borrowers working in public service jobs.

Earlier this year, a federal court ordered the Trump-Vance administration to stop its unlawful rewriting of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program as a way of silencing nonprofit organizations and local governments that do work that runs counter to the administration’s political agenda. The government had filed an appeal of the ruling, but on Wednesday submitted a joint stipulation of dismissal, which will formally end the matter and ensure the new rule will never take effect.

Plaintiffs in the case include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), City of Albuquerque, City of Boston, City of Chicago, City and County of San Francisco, County of Santa Clara, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Legal Aid DC, National Association of Social Workers, National Council of Nonprofits, Oasis Legal Services, American Federation of Teachers, and National Education Association. The coalition is represented by Democracy Forward and Protect Borrowers in this matter; the County of Santa Clara and City and County of San Francisco represent themselves.

“The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program was created so public service workers can pursue careers serving their communities without being burdened with debilitating debt,” said AFSCME President Patrick Moran. “Countless essential workers rely on this program, and weaponizing it for political purposes would hurt not just these workers but the communities they serve. We’re glad the administration is now following the law and abandoning this illegal scheme.”

Quotes from additional plaintiffs included in the coalition about the court’s ruling are available here.

The legal team on this case includes Sarah Goetz, Victoria Nugent, Simon Brewer, Jennifer Fountain Connolly, and Robin Thurston from Democracy Forward, Persis Yu and Winston Berkman-Breen from Protect Borrowers, and attorneys from the County of Santa Clara Office of the County Counsel and San Francisco City Attorney’s Office.

Read the opinion that decided the case here and learn more about the case here.