http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35974-clinton-commits-no-tpp-fundamentally-rethink-trade-policies
[links in on-line article]
Clinton Commits: No Trans-Pacific Partnership
Tuesday, 10 May 2016 00:00
By Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed
Going into the West Virginia primary, former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton has come out in opposition to a "lame duck" vote on the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This takes her beyond her previous
statements mildly opposing TPP. Clinton also made a strong statement
criticizing our country's trade agreements in general.
As reported in The Hill, in "Clinton opposes TPP vote in the lame-duck
session," Clinton replied to a questionnaire from the Oregon Fair Trade
Campaign, which consists of more than 25 labor, environmental and human
rights organizations. When asked, "If elected President, would you
oppose holding a vote on the TPP during the 'lame duck' session before
you take office?" she replied, "I have said I oppose the TPP agreement
-- and that means before and after the election."
There has been concern that TPP will come up for a vote in the lame-duck
session of Congress after the election, and before the next Congress is
sworn in. This special session enables votes with little accountability
to the public. Members who have been voted out can vote in ways that
help them get lobbying jobs and members who were re-elected with
corporate money can reward their donors.
A statement from the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign describing Clinton's
responses, explains the importance of Clinton opposing a "lame duck" vote,
"The Democratic candidates agree that attempting to sneak the TPP
through during lame duck is completely and totally inappropriate," said
Michael Shannon, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. "Popular
opposition to job-killing trade agreements is at an all time high. The
votes clearly do not exist to pass the TPP before the election, and TPP
proponents' plan to try to get just-voted-out-of-office,
looking-for-corporate-lobby-work Congress members to rubber stamp it
after the election is something that more-and-more politicians are
speaking out against."
The Washington Post explains, in "Clinton does not back Obama trade vote
in postelection congressional session," that this will make it more
difficult for President Obama to push TPP through the lame-duck session:
Opponents of the pact said Clinton's response on the questionnaire,
coming ahead of Oregon's Democratic primary on May 17, represents a more
definitive statement of opposition to the 12-nation Pacific Rim accord
than she has given before. It could present new hurdles for the Obama
administration, which is viewing a likely brief session of Congress
after the Nov. 8 election as its last chance to get the deal ratified by
lawmakers before the president leaves office in January.
Clinton's statement helps, but there are still concerns about the TPP
being pushed through after the election, and the administration and
Republican leaders in Congress are working on this. The Washington Post
again:
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that
administration officials are in contact with Republican leaders in
Congress over the timing of a potential vote.
"The political calculation I would acknowledge is complicated. It
doesn't fall cleanly along party lines," Earnest said. "So we're going
to work in bipartisan fashion to develop a strategy that will lead to
success."
Boosts Clinton's Credibility on Trade
Clinton has suffered from a credibility problem, especially on the issue
of trade. Clinton made no clear statement supporting or opposing TPP
during the "fast-track" fight over trade promotion authority, which
"greased the skids" for the passage of TPP. Then, in October, just
before the first Democratic debate, she "took the issue off the table"
with a mild statement opposing TPP.
Clinton's October statement used wording that people felt left lots of
wiggle room to change positions later. She said "As of today, I am not
in favor of what I have learned about it." This left "as of tomorrow"
open if the agreement wasn't "what she had learned." She said, "I don't
believe it's going to meet the high bar I have set." This left her open
to support TPP if it was changed a bit so she could claim the bar was
higher. She also refused to lobby members of Congress to vote against TPP.
The mild wording left the door open for people to question her
commitment and credibility. This may have been in order not to alienate
the "donor class" and it may have been because she supports "free
trade." The result was that not even people like the head of the Chamber
of Commerce believed her, saying he was sure she would turn around and
support TPP once the election was over.
Her hedged position also left her open to criticism from opposing
candidate Bernie Sanders. Her surprise loss in the Michigan primary was
partly attributed to her low credibility on trade issues. So Clinton
strengthened her wording a bit for the Ohio and other "rust belt"
primaries, but the damage was done.
Now a Clear Commitment
In her most recent statement, Clinton not only committed to opposing TPP
after the election but gave a very strong statement about our trade
agreements in general, saying, "I'm not interested in tinkering around
the margins of our trade policy. I think we need a fundamental rethink
of how we approach trade deals going forward." From the questionnaire:
Across all of our policies, American workers and American jobs have
to come first. And one area where we've gotten this balance wrong over
the years is trade. Looking back over the past decades, as globalization
picked up steam, there's no doubt that the benefits of trade have not
been as widely enjoyed as many predicted. Corporations may have won, but
many workers lost. They lost their jobs, and they lost their sense of
purpose. Cheaper goods are no substitute for that. So America has to do
better.
I've laid out a three -- part test for any trade agreement to earn
my support: it must (1) create American jobs, (2) raise wages, and (3)
improve our national security. My approach to trade would be to
establish and enforce fair rules so that our workers compete on a level
playing field and countries don't race to the bottom on labor, the
environment, and so much else. And we can bring others along in having
higher labor, environmental, and other standards.
Clinton's statement that "we need a fundamental rethink of how we
approach trade deals" is a strong statement, going beyond simply
opposing TPP. "It is critical that we address labor protections and
ensure that human rights are protected, as well as health,
environmental, and consumer safety issues in any new trade agreements,"
her response said.
These are important distinctions that show her position is now clearly
on the side of those opposing not just TPP but the way our trade
agreements have been used to move jobs out of the country, drive down
wages and break what power working people once had in the economy. She
has not left herself wiggle room on a TPP vote, and she did not hedge
herself between the interests of workers and those of the "donor class"
and trade policies have not worked for working people.
Sanders Driving the Issue
This clear statement of position shows the value of the Sanders
campaign. His clear opposition to TPP and our current trade regime
finally forced Clinton to go on the record with a clear commitment
opposing TPP and a solid criticism of our country's trade policies.
This demonstrates the value of contested primaries. It also shows that
Sanders has been able to drive the national discussion in a way that
benefits working people. His discussion of student debt and proposals
for extending public education by four years so public colleges and
universities will be tuition-free has brought record support from
younger voters.
Sanders forced the issue and Clinton has committed to opposing TPP along
with her strong statement on the need to rethink our trade policies in
general. Whether Clinton is secretly a "free-trader" and is as some
suspect only making these statements for votes, or personally really
believes that the trade agreements and overall policy has hurt working
people and the economy and only hedged in order to appeal to the donor
class does not matter. The commitment locks her into the policy, so it
will be the same either way.
Democratic Platform Needs a Strong Anti-TPP Plank
One would think that blocking TPP should be a slam dunk now that all
three remaining presidential candidates -- Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton
and Bernie Sanders -- have come out strongly against the agreement.
Unfortunately, the unaccountable postelection "lame duck" session is not
a normal session, and the will of the public may not prevail.
The Democratic convention can pass a strong platform plank expressing
the will of the party, and adding enforcement provisions against any
Democrats who might vote for TPP in the lame duck or after. This could
include a resolution to deny party funds and endorsements in coming
elections.
A strong statement in the Democratic Party platform will also help
Democratic House and Senate candidates compete in their own races this
fall. At the top of the Republican ticket, Donald Trump might be opposed
to TPP and other one-sided trade deals, but most of the rest of the
Republican party is just fine with trade deals that move jobs out of the
country so that executives and Wall Street shareholders can pocket the
wage differential.
A strong platform plank makes a party-wide statement. It gives all
Democrats ammunition against their opponents who might disagree with
Trump and favor the TPP and free trade. It allows Democrats at all
levels to campaign saying that Democrats, as a party, stand behind
working people.
Clinton's statement helps. Asking members of Congress to vote against
TPP would help more. A strong Democratic Party platform plank would
help, too. We need to stamp TPP out and start fresh with a fair trade
process that brings representatives of labor, environmental, consumer,
human rights and other "stakeholder" groups to the negotiating table
along with representatives of business.
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