Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent populist from Vermont, railed against the Trans-Pacific Partnership during his campaign to become the Democratic nominee for President last year. Today, he praised President Trump for signing on his fourth day in office an executive order to officially withdraw the U.S. from the controversial trade deal. Critics of the deal have raised concerns about the T.P.P. claiming it would take even more American jobs out of the country, going so far as to labeling it, "NAFTA on steroids."
Sanders on President Trump's executive order to kill T.P.P.
Sen.
Bernie Sanders stated, "I'm glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone. For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade deals including the North American Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and others, which have cost us millions of decent paying jobs and caused a race to the bottom which have lowered wages for American workers." Sen. Sanders went on to say that it is time to come up with a trade policy that works for all Americans, not just the multinational corporations. He exclaimed he would be delighted to work with President Donald Trump if he was truly serious about proposing a trade deal that would benefit American workers and boost the economy.
Obama's trade legacy tarnished
The majority of democrats opposed the T.P.P. which pitted them against former President Barack Obama who helped craft and promoted the trade deal. Even Hillary Clinton rallied against it after the unpopularity of the T.P.P. grew after she previously praised it as the "gold standard" of trade deals.
Other democrats joined Sanders on Monday congratulating President Trump on keeping his promise he made during his campaign to nix the controversial trade deal. Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. said, "I support President Trump's executive order that will pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and his recent steps to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
He added, "NAFTA has adversely impacted middle class families in Pennsylvania and the T.P.P. would have cost jobs and hurt income growth." He then explained he voted against it for that very reason.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin a democrat from Wisconsin, shared her thoughts on Trump's T.P.P. executive decision:
Withdrawing from #TPP & moving to renegotiate #NAFTA are good 1st steps from @POTUS, but more must be done to keep his word to WI workers.
— Sen. Tammy Baldwin (@SenatorBaldwin) January 23, 2017
Sen. Baldwin and Sen. Casey Jr. both happen to be up for reelection in 2018. Both states went for Trump in the 2016 presidential election which means they can see the writing on the wall and they understand that siding on this populist trend to aid the middle class will be politically expedient for their reelection hopes.
Now with former President Obama out of politics and Hillary Clinton defeated it looks like there will be no stiff objections from any leading democrats.
Sen. Sanders calls out Trump for outsourcing jobs
Sen. Bernie Sanders however, called out President Trump for his past hypocritical actions of outsourcing jobs as a part of his business empire to countries with cheap labor. Bernie Sanders challenged President Donald Trump to bring back those jobs and hire more American workers. President Trump has said that he plans to do just that but it remains to be seen if he will indeed keep his promise. Sen. Bernie Sanders recently proposed an anti-outsourcing bill called the Outsourcing Prevention Act which would
- Prevent companies that outsource jobs from receiving federal grants, tax breaks, grants or loans.
- take back federal benefit from companies that outsource jobs have received over the last decade
- taxing companies that move their jobs offshore
- stop executives from profiting off of the outsourcing of jobs
If this law is passed by congress it will be up to President Donald Trump to sign it into law. It remains to be seen if President Trump truly remembers the forgotten man.
