Obama trade agenda becomes problem for Hillary Clinton [View all]

[Karmadillo]

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/235892-house-democrats-seethe-over-obamas-classified-trade

President Obama's pro-trade agenda is a problem for Hillary Clinton, who is under pressure from liberals to oppose her former boss’s push for fast-track authority as she prepares to run for the White House.

The Obama agenda is also highlighting the former secretary of State’s complicated record on trade, which could open the Democratic presidential front-runner to criticism from the left.

Robert Reich, who served as Labor secretary under former President Bill Clinton and opposes Obama's trade pitch, said the issue “could definitely be a headache for her in 2016 because it is so very unpopular among progressives.”
As first lady, Clinton watched her husband win approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico, a deal that unions and liberal groups say eliminated U.S. jobs.

Clinton has distanced herself from NAFTA since then. In a 2007 Democratic debate, she called the agreement “a mistake.”

While some reports indicate Clinton backed NAFTA internally during her husband’s years in the White House, she told a union audience in 2008 that she raised the “yellow caution flag” against the pact. She and Obama both said they would renegotiate the controversial agreement during their 2008 presidential primary battle.

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