Hillary on TPP: ‘I Don’t Believe It’s Going to Meet the High Bar I Have Set’

WOODRUFF: “So let’s start with the big announcement from President Obama this week about the Trade Deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the U.S. and 11 other countries covering 40 percent of the global economy, 800 million consumers. It’s already started a big battle between people who love free trade and people who care more about protectionism. Where do you come down?”
CLINTON: “I have said from the very beginning that we had to have a trade agreement that would create good American jobs, raise wages, and advance our national security. And I still believe that’s the high bar we have to meet. I have been trying to learn as much as I can about the agreement, but I am worried. I’m worried about currency manipulation not being part of the agreement. We’ve lost American jobs to the manipulations that countries, particularly in Asia, have engaged in. I’m worried that the pharmaceutical companies may have gotten more benefits, and patients and consumers fewer. I think that there are still a lot of unanswered questions. But for me, it really comes down to those three points that I made, and the fact that we’ve learned a lot about trade agreements in the past years. Sometimes they look great on paper. I know when President Obama came into office, he inherited a trade agreement with South Korea. I, along with other members of the Cabinet, pushed hard to get a better agreement. We think we made improvements. Now, looking back on it, it doesn’t have the results we thought it would have, in terms of access to the markets, more exports, etc.”
WOODRUFF: “So are you saying that as of today this is not something you could support?”
CLINTON: “What I know about it as of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it. And there is one other element I want to make, because I think it’s important. Trade agreements don’t happen in a vacuum. In order for us to have a competitive economy in the global marketplace, there I thinks we need to do here at home that help raise wages. And the Republicans have blocked everything President Obama tried to do on that front. For the larger issues and what I know--and again, I don’t have the text, we don’t yet have all the details-- I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar I have set.”