[CTC] Clinton forcefully disavows Obama’s trade deal

[Arthur Stamoulis]

A few on yesterday's Clinton speech…


http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/clinton-reject-obama-trade-226920

Clinton forcefully disavows Obama’s trade deal
Politico
By Nolan D. McCaskill
August 11, 2016
 
Hillary Clinton on Thursday forcefully rejected the notion that she will support the Trans-Pacific Partnership if she’s elected in November, telling a blue-collar crowd in Michigan that “I oppose it now, I’ll oppose it after the election, and I’ll oppose it as president.”

Donald Trump has accused Clinton of lying about her opposition to the 12-nation trade pact, which President Barack Obama has aggressively pushed. Following a POLITICO report last month in which Clinton ally and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe suggested Clinton would come around to a modified version of the deal, Trump called Clinton a liar and said her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, is one of the deal’s top supporters.

In an economic address Thursday in Warren, Michigan, the Democratic presidential nominee partially agreed with Trump’s views on trade, acknowledging that “too often past trade deals have been sold to the American people with rosy scenarios that didn’t pan out,” but pushed back on the notion that she would ever support TPP. 

Communities in Michigan, she said, have lost factories and jobs due to hollow promises about how past trade deals would help American workers.

“Too many companies lobbied for trade deals so they could sell products abroad but instead moved abroad and sold back into the United States,” she said. “It’s also true that China and other countries have gamed the system for too long. Enforcement — especially during the Bush administration — has been too lax. Investments at home that would make us more competitive have been blocked, and American workers and communities have paid the price.”

But the answer, she argued, isn’t “to rant and rave — or to cut ourselves off from the world.”

“That would kill even more jobs. The answer is to finally make trade work for us, not against us. So my message to every worker in Michigan and across America is this: I will stop any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages — including the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” she said.

Clinton also pointed to TEAM USA’s success in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as she pushed back on Trump’s assertion that America is a country that doesn’t win anymore and accused the real estate mogul of fearmongering.

“He may talk a big game on trade, but his approach is based on fear, not strength. Fear that we can’t compete with the rest of the world even when the rules are fair. Fear that our country has no choice but to hide behind walls,” Clinton said. “If Team USA was as fearful as Trump, Michael Phelps and Simone would be cowering in the locker room. Instead, they’re winning gold medals because America isn’t afraid to compete.”

Progressives praise Clinton’s stronger stance against the TPP
The Hill
By Vicki Needham
August 11, 2016
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/291198-progressives-praise-clintons-stronger-stance-against-the-tpp-deal <http://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/291198-progressives-praise-clintons-stronger-stance-against-the-tpp-deal> 
 
Progressives praised Hillary Clinton for sharpening her opposition to an Asia-Pacific trade agreement, calling her position necessary to kill the far-reaching deal. 

Several left-leaning groups said the Democratic presidential nominee's vow to oppose a lame-duck vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is her toughest pronouncement yet against moving the 12-nation agreement through Congress before President Obama leaves office. 

"These were Hillary Clinton's strongest words yet against the TPP," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
"For the first time, Clinton signaled she will personally work to kill the corporate-written TPP if it comes up after the election in an unaccountable lame-duck Congress," Green said. 

"President Obama will hurt Democratic chances of success this November — and help Donald Trump's chance of winning blue collar voters — if he does not heed Clinton's signals and take the TPP off the table before the election," he said. 

During a Thursday speech in Michigan, Clinton assured supporters that she wouldn't waver on her TPP position and would maintain her opposition even if she wins the White House. 

“I oppose it now, I’ll oppose it after the election and I’ll oppose it as president," Clinton said. 

Democracy for America (DFA) and CREDO led the charge this week to collect signatures on a petition in an effort to convince Clinton to publicly announce her opposition to a lame-duck vote. 

"In particular, the clear opposition Secretary Clinton voiced to the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership ... is the strongest we've heard from her to date and will undoubtedly help build the support necessary to kill this miserable trade deal once and for all," said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America.

"However, it's now more important than ever that the country and President Obama hear specifically from Secretary Clinton that a vote on the job-killing TPP during a lame duck session of Congress must not happen," Chamberlin said.

The president is urging Congress to pass the deal before the end of the year.

Most Democrats in Congress are already opposed to passing the TPP saying it is a bad deal for U.S. workers and only serves to help bolster the profits of large corporations. 

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who has long been opposed to the TPP, praised Clinton for reaffirming her stance against the Pacific deal.

"The American electorate has made this issue front and center this year, and with our next president firmly against the agreement, it would be wrong for the current administration to try and push it through a lame duck session of Congress," DeLauro said.
 

Clinton, In Michigan, Is Emphatic In Her Opposition To TPP, Trump
Insidde US Trade
August 11, 2016
https://insidetrade.com/trade/clinton-michigan-emphatic-her-opposition-tpp-trump <https://insidetrade.com/trade/clinton-michigan-emphatic-her-opposition-tpp-trump> 
 
Hillary Clinton today took on Donald Trump – and took the advice of a Michigan congresswoman on trade, emphatically reiterating her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D) said earlier today that she had urged Clinton to make her stance on TPP plain in the face of Trump's claims that Clinton's stated opposition to the deal is not genuine.

Clinton did just that. “My message to every worker in Michigan and across America is this. I will stop any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” she said at a manufacturing company in Warren, MI. “I oppose it now, I'll oppose it after the election and I'll oppose it as president.”

Clinton acknowledged that “too often, past trade deals have been sold to the American people with rosy scenarios that did not pan out. Those promises now bring hollow in many communities across Michigan and our country that have seen factories close and jobs disappear.”

Also true, she said, is that “China and other countries have gamed the system for too long. Enforcement, particularly during the Bush administration, has been too lax. Investments at home that would make us more competitive have been completely blocked in Congress and American workers in communities have paid the price.

“But the answer is not to rant and rave or cut ourselves off from the world,” she said, in a shot at Trump. “That would end up killing even more jobs. The answer is to finally make trade work for us, not against us.”

More from Clinton:

As a senator from New York, I fought to defend New York's manufacturers and steel makers from unfair Chinese trading practices. And I opposed the only multilateral trade deal that came before the Senate while I was there because it didn't meet my high bar. And as secretary of state, I fought hard for American businesses to get a fair shot around the world and to stop underhanded trading practices like currency manipulation and the theft of intellectual property. So as president I will stand up to China and anyone else who tries to take advantage of American workers and companies.

And I am going to ramp up enforcement by appointing for the first time, a chief trade prosecutor. I will triple the number of enforcement officers. And when countries break the rules , we won't hesitate to impose targeted tariffs.

Now, Mr. Trump may talk of big game on trade but his approach when it comes to trade is based on fear, not strength. Fear that we cannot compete with the rest of the world, even when rules are fair. Fear that our country has no choice but to hide behind walls.

“Now, before he tweets about how he is really the one who will put America first and trade, let's remember where Trump makes many of his own products, because it sure is not America,” she said. “He has made Trump ties in China and Trump suits in Mexico, instead of here in Michigan. He keeps saying, it's not possible to make these things in America anymore, that's just wrong.”

To that end, the campaign has created a website that Clinton said lists “100 places across the United States that are already producing similar goods. One positive thing Trump could do to make America great again is to actually make great things in America again.”
 
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