Obama trade agenda

Sanders criticizes Obama trade agenda

By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

Bernie Sanders on Thursday said he sharply disagrees with President Barack Obama’s trade agenda and tore into Hillary Clinton as he railed against the country’s trade policies.

Sanders briefly praised Obama as a “very good president” but expressed disapproval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership his administration pushed for last year.

“If the question is do I disagree with President Obama on TPP, I surely do,” Sanders told reporters after delivering remarks on trade in Lansing, Michigan. “Many, many Americans were disappointed and disagree with President Obama for his support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”

The Vermont senator, who has been critical of Obama and called out Clinton for constantly aligning herself so closely to the president, said trade deals for decades under both Democratic and Republican leadership have been “an unmitigated disaster.”

Sanders touted his 98 percent pro-union voting record and contrasted Clinton’s support for numerous trade deals, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, as well as permanent normal trade relations with China and making a deal with South Korea as secretary of state.

“She was very, very wrong, and millions of families around this country have been suffering as a result of those disastrous trade agreements,” Sanders said. “I don’t take money from Wall Street. I don’t take money from corporate America — never have, never wanted that.”

Sanders said millions of people have lost decent-paying jobs as a result of U.S. trade deals, specifically pointing to thousands of job losses in Michigan, where Sanders and Clinton will spar on Sunday in the next Democratic debate.

“These trade agreements are pushed and written, to a significant degree, by corporate America for corporate America, and the results are clear,” Sanders said. “Look at Detroit. Look at Flint. Our trade policies have failed.”

Clinton last fall announced her opposition to the TPP, saying in October she didn’t believe it would “meet the high bar I have set.” But Sanders charged that it was merely a political decision that she could shift if she wins the White House.

“She voiced a lot of support over the years for the concept of the TPP. She was very reluctant to come out in opposition,” Sanders said. “The entire trade union movement, to the best of my knowledge, there is not one union in this country that did not vigorously oppose the TPP. She’s running for president, and she concluded that it was good idea to oppose the TPP.”

Sanders suggested the TPP would lead to more domestic job losses because American workers would be forced to compete with workers in nations with extremely low minimum wages and others that employ migrant workers.

“In terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, I do not wanna see American workers competing against people in Vietnam who raised the minimum wage to 65 cents an hour,” he said. “I do not wanna see American workers having to compete with migrant workers in Malaysia, who are working as modern-day slaves. I can go on and on about the TPP and the other negative aspects of it. I think it is the continuation of a disastrous set of trade policies, which have helped destroy the middle class of this country.”