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Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has signed on to a letter led by Iowa’s attorney general urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to end the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to push its agenda through before President Biden leaves office.
“President Trump won the 2024 election. Now, after the election, you should not negotiate or enter an international agreement relating to regulating American-made plastics. American chemistries are among the world’s safest, cleanest, and most productive,” the letter reads.
The United States is the second largest producer of plastic in the world, accounting for 17 percent of global plastic production in 2022. China produced 32 percent of global plastic production in 2022.
“According to the Plastics Industry Association, the plastics industry is America’s eighth-largest manufacturing sector, supporting more than one million jobs. Imposing limitations on American plastic manufacturing will cost American jobs and increase prices that Americans must pay at the grocery store,” the letter reads.
The letter comes as the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution convenes this week in South Korea to discuss an international plastics agreement. The 12 states are calling on Blinken to refrain from entering into negotiations or agreements that could constrain the next administration under President Trump.
“That is why we, the undersigned attorneys general of twelve States, respectfully request that the Biden Administration avoid any lame duck international agreements that might constrain or bind President Trump’s administration. This is especially true of agreements that would surrender American authority to unelected global bureaucrats, sacrifice American jobs, and hurt American consumers,” the letter reads.
“The will of the American people is clear: the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration belong in the past,” said Attorney General Marshall.
The states argue that Secretary Blinken should respect the will of the American people and clarify to the Negotiating Committee that it will be President-elect Trump, not Biden, who will determine America’s position in these international negotiations.
The group also clarifies that the American people have favored Trump’s opposition to some international agreements that they believe will harm America’s workforce and residents’ pocketbooks.
Along with Alabama, the attorneys general of Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia signed the letter.
“Depending on the final agreement’s language, it likely will impose legal obligations on American manufacturers across the country and in our States. As the Attorneys General of Iowa, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia we play an important role in defending our States’ duly enacted laws and regulations related to plastic,” the letter reads.
