Less than a week after formally launching her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton is already being tested on a thorny issue for Democrats: free-trade deals and their impact on workers.
The issue is a backdrop for almost any global economic affairs debate in Washington, with many Democrats and their backers arguing that free-trade deals help big corporations, but drive American jobs abroad to cheaper labour markets.
On Thursday, the debate rose to a full boil when members of Congress from both parties announced legislation that would give President Barack Obama the “fast-track” trade negotiating authority he needs to complete a massive Asia-Pacific free-trade deal.
Over two days of campaigning in Iowa last week, where she discussed economics, Clinton, who is the commanding front-runner to be the Democratic nominee for the 2016 election, uttered not a word about the potential Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) between the US and 11 other Pacific Rim countries.
Over two days of campaigning in Iowa last week, Clinton uttered not a word about the potential Trans-Pacific Partnership
If Obama does not get fast-track ‘trade promotion authority’ (TPA) from Congress setting rules for debating TPP, it will be nearly impossible to complete the sprawling pact that aims to lower trade barriers and further stimulate trade with countries ranging from Australia, Japan and Chile to Singapore and Vietnam.
The TPA fight in Congress could be over this year, long before the election campaigns really heat up. But if Congress approves fast-track, the second chapter – an up-or-down vote by Congress on whatever TPP deal Obama agrees to – could be raging as the November 2016 election nears.
“She puts herself in a very difficult position no matter what she says about trade,” said Paul Sracic, who heads Youngstown State University’s Politics and International Relations Department in Ohio and focuses on global trade.
That is because Clinton, who has spent decades in the national limelight including as secretary of state from 2009-2013, could face attacks from many angles, especially in swing states like Ohio that could decide who wins the White House.