<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Politico Pro<o:p class=""></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(39, 44, 63);" class="">Biden backed NAFTA and TPP. Sanders and Trump plan to make him pay.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-transform: uppercase;" class="">BY <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;" class=""><a href="https://www.politico.com/staff/holly-otterbein" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">HOLLY OTTERBEIN</a></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-transform: uppercase;" class="">05/02/2019<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(110, 115, 129); text-transform: uppercase;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Joe Biden's campaign kickoff was designed to showcase his blue-collar appeal: A rally at a Teamsters hall in Pittsburgh where he railed against Wall Street and demanded that a local employer "stop the union-busting."<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">But one staple of Democratic stump speeches heard across the Rust Belt was missing: “Middle-Class Joe,” as he’s dubbed himself, didn't once mention trade.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">There's probably a reason for that. In the Senate, Biden voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement and permanent normal trade relations with China. As then-President Barack Obama's No. 2, he also supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">President Donald Trump’s team, rival Democratic campaigns, and progressive activists believe that record is a major vulnerability — particularly with a protectionist in the White House — and they plan on making sure voters know about it.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">“Biden’s advocacy for NAFTA and the TPP would suggest that the Washington-driven conventional wisdom that he has solid support among union households in the Midwest and elsewhere might be more complicated than the media is currently presenting," says Waleed Shahid, communications director for the left-wing Justice Democrats. "Biden hasn’t been held accountable for his policy record and he’ll increasingly be exposed for not really being the populist hero he likes to present himself as.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Many old-school Democratic voters believe free trade deals have been disastrous, closing down factories and shrinking American wages. Trump turned that opposition to his advantage, winning over some Democrats by bashing NAFTA and TPP.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">As the politics of trade have been upended, Biden has a history of often voting like a Bill Clinton-, '90s-style Democrat on the high-profile trade agreements, though he has also <a href="https://www.iatp.org/news/bidens-record-on-trade" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">opposed other deals</span></a>. And as vice president, Biden backed the Obama administration's pro-free trade agenda.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><a href="https://cd.politicopro.com/member/51605" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">Bernie Sanders</span></a> (I-Vt.) is already jabbing Biden on trade. Hours after Biden delivered his first official campaign speech, Sanders went on CNN and contrasted their positions on the issue.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">“When people take a look at my record versus Vice President Biden's record, I helped lead the fight against NAFTA; he voted for NAFTA,” he said. “I helped lead the fight against [permanent normal trade relations] with China; he voted for it. I strongly opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership; he supported it.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Sanders, polling second behind Biden in most national and early-state polls, didn’t stop there: He released a <a href="https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1123360855649865729" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">video</span></a> on the topic, and issued a press release calling on Trump and other Democratic candidates to support his trade agenda.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">It’s no surprise that Biden has ignored the provocations given his early frontrunner status. Questioned about Sanders’ broadsides during a trip to Iowa, Biden said, “We got plenty of time to respond. I’m not going to get in a debate with my colleagues here.” When he was asked whether he's a “free trader,” Biden replied, “I’m a fair trader. That’s why I’ve been arguing for a long time that we should treat other countries the way in which they treat us which is, particularly as it relates to China: If they want to trade here they’re going to be under the same rules.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Biden’s allies, meanwhile, have pushed back on the notion that he's insufficiently pro-worker. Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Firefighters, said Biden “has a clear, 40-year track record of supporting workers, working families, union families every step of the way, from prevailing wage to living wage to protection of their retirement plan.” He added that he expects a “majority of the labor movement” will eventually back Biden.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Republicans have also spotted an opening in Biden’s record. America Rising, a GOP opposition research firm, posted a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSmT4Vmu4ig" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">video</span></a> on YouTube titled “Joe Biden Nostalgic About His Work On Controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership.” The clip captures Biden lamenting at the University of Pennsylvania this year that the “extreme left and extreme right” has moved away from globalization, and said Chinese President Xi Jinping asked him, “If you get [TPP] done, can we join?”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Bryan Lanza, an aide on Trump’s 2016 campaign, said voters “feel trade left them behind” in key states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin. He likened Biden’s past positions on trade and other issues to Hillary Clinton’s financial support from Wall Street, which her opponents seized on to portray her as beholden to the financial elite.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">“It used to be that Republicans were the Wall Street candidates. With Hillary, she had these strong Wall Street relationships, and President Trump sort of flipped that dynamic, where he was embraced more by blue-collar workers,” Lanza said. “Biden is no different. Delaware is a corporation haven, and Biden has been carrying the weight for those people his entire career.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Biden’s supporters say his connection with working-class white voters in the Midwest makes him the best Democratic candidate to take on Trump. But progressive activists are wasting no time trying to poke holes in that argument — starting with trade.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">“There are many reasons Joe Biden is the least electable Democrat our side could possibly nominate,” said Adam Green, the co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which supports <a href="https://cd.politicopro.com/member/140963" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">Elizabeth Warren</span></a> (D-Mass.) “Being seen as cozy with big corporations and loving to cut backroom deals with political insiders are two of those reasons — and they are exactly what trade deals like the TPP represent. That's the opposite of the outsider zeitgeist Trump tapped into in 2016 and will try to repeat in 2020.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Biden isn't apologizing for his pro-trade past, at least so far. Asked in Iowa if it was a mistake to support NAFTA, he said, “No, it wasn’t.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">In a brief writeup on his website, Biden’s campaign seems to strike more of a balance on the issue, saying that trade agreements must protect workers and the environment, but that “other countries will write the rules for us” if the United States does not. Biden’s team is expected to release more details on his policies in the coming weeks.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">Trade could be a major fissure among primary candidates in 2020. Along with Warren, who fought against the TPP, Sens. <a href="https://cd.politicopro.com/member/211545" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">Cory Booker</span></a> (D-N.J.) and <a href="https://cd.politicopro.com/member/51842" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">Amy Klobuchar</span></a> (D-Minn.) have often <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18215442/2020-democratic-presidential-candidates-policies-trade" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">opposed</span></a>free trade agreements, while former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro are <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18215442/2020-democratic-presidential-candidates-policies-trade" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">viewed</span></a> as more trade-friendly.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">It’s unclear how much of a factor the issue will be in the Midwest. Polls in 2016 showed that Trump’s anti-trade stance was almost a certainly a boon to him in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. In August and September of that year, 53 percent of adults in the Midwest said free trade deals harmed their communities, more than people in any other region, according to a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/politico-harvard-poll-free-trade-trump-gop-228600" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">survey</span></a> by POLITICO and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">But in 2018, Trump’s job rating <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/are-trump-s-tariffs-taking-toll-him-midwest-n894761" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 123, 199); text-decoration: none;" class="">fell below 40 percent</span></a> in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota — states where companies and workers were directly affected by Trump’s tariffs.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class="">“I think the independent senator from Vermont sees this as an opportunity to chip away at Biden’s favorability,” said Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina-based Democratic strategist who advised Clinton's 2016 campaign in the state, adding, "Part of this is because Biden is a frontrunner, and Bernie is the No.1 contender.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;" class=""> </span></div><div class="">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis</div><div class="">Citizens Trade Campaign</div><div class="">(202) 494-8826</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<br class=""></body></html>