Postal union set to accept reform to quash US walkout threat

Unions

Postal union set to accept reform to quash US walkout threat

Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro said the proposal would keep the U.S. in the organization that it helped found.

The Associated Press

September 25, 2019 12:22 pm

< a min read

GENEVA (AP) — Nearly 150 countries appeared headed toward a compromise that would keep the United States in the world’s largest union of postal operators, following a threat by the Trump administration to quit unless it got its way.

The head of the 192-member Universal Postal Union, Kenya’s Bishar Hussein, had warned that a U.S. walkout would “completely shut down” the traditional system of delivering bulky letters.

The extraordinary congress, called this week to respond to the U.S. threat, was only the third for a 145-year-old group that calls itself the second-oldest multilateral organization.

Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro said the proposal would keep the U.S. in the organization that it helped found. He said the proposal “bridges the different views held by net postal exporters and net postal importers here in the room.”