CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — More than 600 Teamsters union members and retirees from across the country came here recently to hear six of the top Democratic presidential candidates make the case for why they’re best for American workers.

Former Vice President Joe Biden pitched himself as “labor from belt buckle to shoe sole.” Pete Buttigieg promised as president he would not be “laughed at by the leaders of the world.”

But after two hours and five candidates, not a single one mentioned trade — a topic that’s roiling rural Iowa, which has been hard-hit by President Donald Trump’s trade wars.
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The closest thing to a shout-out to trade policy came from Sen. Bernie Sanders — the sixth and final candidate to speak — who asserted he would “stand up for workers abroad” and “stand up for workers in the United States of America.”