Facing increasing pressure to clarify her stance on international trade issues, 2016 Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton issued a statement Friday saying any trade deals should meet a high standard, and that the U.S. needs to be “willing to walk away” from the negotiating table if they don’t.
“The goal is … not trade for trade’s sake,” the statement said.
She notably did not stake out a position on whether she supports renewing Trade Promotion Authority for the president or passing the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, the two main policy items set to go before Congress this year.
In a statement provided to the New York Times, Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said: “Hillary Clinton believes that any new trade measure has to pass two tests. First, it should put us in a position to protect American workers, raise wages and create more good jobs at home. Second, it must also strengthen our national security. We should be willing to walk away from any outcome that falls short of these tests. The goal is greater prosperity and security for American families, not trade for trade’s sake.”
Merrill added: “She will be watching closely to see what is being done to crack down on currency manipulation, improve labor rights, protect the environment and health, promote transparency, and open new opportunities for our small businesses to export overseas. As she warned in her book, Hard Choices, we shouldn’t be giving special rights to corporations at the expense of workers and consumers.”
The statement would appear to imply that Clinton is leaning against the Trans-Pacific Partnership because she would require that it meet a high threshold for passage. But it does not directly comment on the deal, leaving open whether she thinks what the White House negotiated meets her criteria. Administration officials have argued that the deal includes “unprecedented” protections for labor rights and environmental policy.
Trade Promotion Authority, also known as “Fast Track,” is not referred to in Clinton’s statement. The legislation would speed passage of trade deals by limiting Congress to a simple up or down vote.
Clinton supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership while she served as President Obama’s secretary of state but has been cooler toward it since leaving the administration. She has not outlined a statement on Trade Promotion Authority. She voted against renewing it in 2002 when she was a New York senator. Bill Clinton used a version of it to help secure passage of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement in 1994.
Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan legislation Thursday to renew Fast Track, which the White House wants Congress to quickly pass. Fast Track’s passage is widely seen as crucial to also passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Democratic Party’s liberal wing are opposed to both however and are being supported by numerous liberal groups, especially organized labor and environmentalists.
Democrats on both sides of the debate have mostly shied away from calling on Clinton to stake out a position, but some like Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a trade critic, have called on her to join in the debate.
