A coalition of liberal activist groups urged House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi Thursday to publicly oppose any vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the controversial 12-nation trade deal, during a post-election “lame duck'” congressional session.
The activists, including MoveOn.org, warned that if the Democratic leadership didn’t fight the deal, they risked conceding the trade issue to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who also opposes the trade pact.
Roger Hickey, co-director of the nonprofit Campaign for America’s Future, told reporters during a conference call that firm Democratic opposition to the trade deal was key to uniting the party in the fall elections. Otherwise he warned that fans of Sen. Bernie Sanders would find it hard to support Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“Without that declaration … it will allow Donald Trump to continue to say that Democrats are not serious about opposing TPP,” Hickey said.
TPP would lower tariffs and other trade barriers among a dozen Pacific Rim nations. China is not part of the deal. The Obama administration negotiated the trade deal and has called upon Congress to vote on it this year. Democrats are under heavy pressure from liberal groups to oppose it, and several key Republicans have expressed skepticism as well. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said the issue is too hot to take up before the November elections, indicating that a vote, if it comes, wouldn’t be until mid-November at the earliest.
Obama has argued that the deal would boost the economy by opening more overseas markets to U.S. goods, and warned that if the U.S. doesn’t strike a deal in that region it would allow China to dominate the markets.
Liberal groups, particularly organized labor, argue the deal would hurt the economy and allow businesses to more easily outsource jobs. Though Clinton helped to negotiate the deal as Obama’s secretary of state, she announced last year that she opposes it.
Former MSNBC host Ed Schultz argued that minority groups would be hurt the most by the deal’s impact on jobs and the economy.
“I will go so far as to say that if the Trans-Pacific Partnership does pass that black lives won’t matter,” Schultz said. He added that Obama was “about to sell his soul” to get TPP passed.
