If Sanders and Warren were telling the truth, they'd argue FOR, not against, the TPA.

[pampango]

67. "... the idea that international trade tribunals can actually overrule our own laws and regulations.

How do you enforce labor and environmental standards in countries that have low standards now? Rely on their own national government to enforce standards that they are not enforcing now?

FDR did not think that would work. He proposed and Truman negotiated and signed the International Trade Organization that would have regulated trade disputes through "consultation and conciliation" and would have linked trade to labor standards, business regulation and a commitment to full employment.

The use of "conciliation" or arbitration rather than countries acting unilaterally was a key part of the trade policy of FDR and Truman. Of course, the republican congress that Truman had to deal with after signing the ITO rejected it, viewing the conciliation and arbitration provision as empowering "international trade tribunals", which had an ominous ring kind of like the modern charge of "death panels", which could have promoted labor standards, business regulation and a goal of full employment - things that made business leaders very nervous.