Bernie Sanders pledges to rewrite 'disastrous' trade deals
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Source: USA Today
Bernie Sanders continued to hammer Hillary Clinton on trade while campaigning in Pittsburgh Thursday, pledging to fundamentally rewrite “disastrous” trade deals -- including the North American Free Trade Agreement.... The independent senator from Vermont also said he would reject the massive 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Obama administration priority that requires congressional approval. Sanders noted that Clinton backed the TPP while serving as secretary of state -- calling it the “gold standard” of trade deals -- and spoke favorably about it "some 45 times" before coming out against it in October.... “Now she says she has reservations about it and when a whole lot of people put pressure on her she decided to oppose it,” Sanders said at a news conference,flanked by union members. “I will not renegotiate the TPP, I will reject it.”
Sanders said he would not send trade agreements to Congress that would make it easier for corporations to move abroad, increase the price of prescription drugs or deregulate Wall Street.
“We have to lift up the standard of living of workers in this country and throughout the world,” he said. “Trade is a good thing. But it has got to be based on fair principles, not unfettered free trade.”
Sanders has made a point of distinguishing himself from Clinton on trade, which helped him pull off a 1.5-point upset victory in Michigan's March 8 primary. The issue is likely to resonate with workers in Pennsylvania who have lost manufacturing jobs. ... “It is directly due to free trade agreements that many of the products we build in Erie are now being built out of the country,” said Scott Slawson, president of the United Electrical Workers Local 506, the bargaining agent at Erie G.E. “... Sanders says he led the opposition to NAFTA and permanent normal trade relations with China, which he says have cost millions of U.S. jobs and led to “a race to the bottom” for workers. He says Clinton over the years has strongly supported those deals.... He also criticized deals that lead corporations to move to countries such as China where there are “virtually no environmental standards” compared to the U.S.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/03/31/bernie-sanders-pledges-rewrite-disastrous-trade-deals/82473012/
= new reply since forum marked as read
President Obama said hed 'reform' Nafta back during his campaign in 08 .. 
