Hillary Clinton’s biggest stumble during Monday night’s debate was her lie about her previous support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Donald Trump brought up TPP while discussing trade. He said Clinton wanted to approve it, and she said “that is just not accurate.” She added that she “was against it once it was finally negotiated and the terms were laid out.”
Trump said she called it the “gold standard of trade deals.” Clint interrupted, saying she hadn’t. Trump then claimed that she changed her tune after listening to him talk about trade (I think it has more to do with Clinton’s primary rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who opposed the trade deal).
Clinton was adamant, saying she had said she “hoped it would be a good deal.” That’s not true. Clinton has been claiming that’s what she said since as far back as October 2015, when she was debating Sanders. The truth is, back in 2012, Clinton was explicit in her support of the deal.
“This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field,” Clinton said at the time. “And when negotiated, this agreement will cover 40 percent of the world’s total trade and build in strong protections for workers and the environment.”
She never expressed mere hope.
She repeated the lie in Monday night’s debate, and she and her campaign have been struggling with the claim ever since. Her campaign spokesman, Brian Fallon, struggled to spin her comments during interviews following the debate.
CNN host Wolf Blitzer pointed out to Fallon that Clinton had indeed flip-flopped on her TPP position, but the spokesman couldn’t admit it.
“No, I think what happened, Wolf, was at the time that she made those comments that you just played, that deal was still being worked on, and she was expressing her hope that the deal would live up to being the gold standard,” Fallon insisted.
Blitzer pointed out that she didn’t say “hope” in her 2012 statement, but that hasn’t stopped Fallon from making the claim on other networks.
Now the Associated Press has a report out about how the debate “highlighted Hillary Clinton’s troubles with trade.” The report explains how Trump and Sanders’ (and now Clinton’s) opposition to TPP has made things difficult for Congress.
“[Clinton’s] husband signed NAFTA into law, and in hushed tones Democratic operatives all along the party’s spectrum continue to question what she really thinks about the topic,” the AP wrote. “On the flip side, historically (and it remains the case for many) Republican voters, especially businesspeople, have been some of biggest proponents of free trade policies, and they were thrown a curveball when Trump prevailed in the primaries with an anti-free-trade message.”
The AP also noted that this trade issue has been one where Trump “excelled in connecting with voters.” If Clinton is seen as a flip-flopper, and thus untrustworthy, on TPP, then the issue isn’t going away. If Trump could remain focused on it (instead of going off on tangents about Clinton’s husband’s sexual activities) he might be able to gain some policy ground.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
