US

Clinton Once Called TPP ‘Gold Standard’ And Had It Praised As Significant Achievement

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Casey Harper Contributor
Font Size:

Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that she does not support the Trans Pacific Partnership deal, but in 2012 she called it the “gold standard” of trade and just this year Susan Rice called it one of her biggest accomplishments as secretary of state.

“I am not in favor of what I have learned about it,” Clinton said about TPP in an interview on PBS’s News Hour Wednesday.

But when National Security Adviser Susan Rice was asked on With All Due Respect in June to name Clinton’s specific accomplishments as secretary, she listed the Iraq War withdrawal and TPP as Clinton’s biggest accomplishments.

“We’ve been negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to bring that to fruition,” Rice said. “We are looking forward to obtaining Trade Promotion Authority from Congress. That is another significant accomplishment.”

Though she added the caveat, “you would have to put them in the context of the administration’s accomplishments.” Still, in November 2012, Clinton gave a speech in Australia in which she called TPP the “gold standard” of trade agreements.

“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.

In her 2014 book, “Hard Choices,” Clinton also praised TPP:

“One of our most important tools for engaging with Vietnam was a proposed new trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would link markets throughout Asia and the Americas, lowering trade barriers while raising standards on labor, the environment, and intellectual property,” Clinton wrote. “It was also important for American workers, who would benefit from competing on a more level playing field. And it was a strategic initiative that would strengthen the position of the United States in Asia.”

Obama has said the deal would reduce foreign taxes, but Clinton has said the deal does not meet her “high bar” for a trade agreement. Some have speculated that Clinton has opposed the deal in an effort to appease unions, which largely oppose the deal.

Follow Casey on Twitter and like him on Facebook

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.