Hillary Clinton on Trans-Pacific Partnership: Harmful for the American Economy

Tackling another issue important to the liberal wing of her party, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton rolled out a comprehensive Wall Street reform plan Thursday promising to crack down on rule breakers in the financial industry and impose new regulations and taxes on large banks to prevent another financial meltdown.

Clinton said the goal of trade pacts should be to create new jobs, raise wages and protect national security.

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a community forum campaign event at Cornell College in Mt Vernon, Iowa, October 7, 2015. Deportations? The administration’s record rate of sending undocumented immigrants home was unnecessarily “breaking up families”, she said. That may be a crock, but it doesn’t leave much room for her opponents to take a swing at her.

While Clinton has not outright come out against the Trans Pacific Partnership until today, she had signaled over the summer that she was anxious about the deal.

The TPP deal, which must be approved by the US Congress, has faced skepticism from lawmakers.

Obama has said the deal would reduce foreign taxes, but Clinton has said the deal does not meet her “high bar” for a trade agreement.

American unions, too, have also voiced opposition, fearing the agreement could result in jobs being lost to SE Asia.

Critics who accuse Clinton of flip-flopping find comfort in the fact that she is on record 45 times supporting the TPP when she was Secretary of State. I’m anxious about currency manipulation not being part of the agreement. After Obama last week appeared to deride her proposal for a no-fly zone over Syria, aides called to make sure Clinton understood the criticism wasn’t aimed at her, according to a senior White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

“The bar here is very high and based on what I have seen, I don’t believe the agreement has met it”, Clinton said in a statement.

Clinton would have limited authority to unravel the deal if Obama manages to get it in place and she succeeds him in the White House.

As for courage of conviction, the same can not be said of Ms. Clinton.

Sen. Sanders, the independent from Vermont, has long opposed free trade deals.

And while it doesn’t help Clinton’s reputation as being untrustworthy, it’s highly credible that the deal she supported and the deal that was approved have significant differences.

During that campaign, Clinton also spoke out against a free trade agreement with Colombia, citing concerns about threats of violence against workers attempting to organize.

Nearly every political commentator expressing an opinion described her stance as a move to win support on the left, and stop a surprisingly strong Democratic challenge from Senator Bernie Sanders. Four years later, she called it “flawed”, and maintained her opposition to NAFTA during her failed 2008 presidential campaign.