Disastrous

Bernie Sanders bashes trade agreement as 'disastrous' 

By Daniel Strauss

It didn't take long for Sen. Bernie Sanders to bash the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal the United States reached on Monday alongside 11 other countries in the Pacific Rim.

"I am disappointed but not surprised by the decision to move forward on the disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that will hurt consumers and cost American jobs," Sanders said in a statement Monday morning shortly after the deal was announced. "Wall Street and other big corporations have won again. It is time for the rest of us to stop letting multinational corporations rig the system to pad their profits at our expense."

Sanders' statement follows the Obama administration joining with the 11 other countries in coming to an agreement on phasing out a number of tariffs and trade barriers. The Vermont Independent senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate has taken his opposition to the trade deal to the campaign trail where he bashed Hillary Clinton in June for not quickly taking a stand against the deal.

In his Monday statement, Sanders vowed to fight the deal in the Senate. The deal is expected to be a flashpoint for heated debate in Congress over the next few months.

"This agreement follows failed trade deals with Mexico, China and other low-wage countries that have cost millions of jobs and shuttered tens of thousands of factories across the United States," Sanders continued. "In the Senate, I will do all that I can to defeat this agreement. We need trade policies that benefit American workers and consumers, not just CEOs of large multi-national corporations."