These are interesting times. Sen. Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump in the GOP convention. Sen. Bernie Sanders did endorse Hillary Clinton but his supporters tanked Debbie Wasserman Schultz and protested speakers at the Democratic convention. [Michael Stumo| July 27, 2016 |The Hill] Trump has promoted a nationalist message of “America First” in trade and foreign relations, opposing or questioning the TPP,…
Republican White House nominee Donald Trump has suggested that the United States could pull out of the World Trade Organization if he is elected president. [PTI| July 25, 2016 |News Nation] The New York billionaire made the comments yesterday during a wide-ranging interview with NBC television’s “Meet the Press,” his first since being crowned as his party’s…
Here, in a nutshell, is the dilemma of putting Pence on the ticket: His duties as VP require him to agree with Trump but he was named VP in the first place because he doesn’t always agree with Trump. He was a “unity” pick, designed to show wary conservatives that Trump’s GOP still has a place for their…
The AFL-CIO issued a statement this weekend lauding Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine for changing his stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership now that he’s Hillary Clinton’s pick for vice president. [Daily News| July 25, 2016 |Inside US Trade] For the labor group, which has endorsed Clinton, the decision “signifies the beginning of a new era,” it…
The prospects for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are not looking very good right now. Both parties’ presidential candidates have come out against the deal. Donald Trump has placed it at the top of his list of bad trade deals that he wants to stop or reverse. Hillary Clinton had been a supporter as Secretary of…
Hillary Clinton has claimed that Donald Trump‘s trade policies will start a “trade war” but what she fails to recognize is that we are already in one. Trump clearly sees it and he will work to put an end to it. [Dan DiMicco| July 19, 2016 |CNBC] With some nations exercising mercantilism — predatory export pricing and…
Donald Trump took another step toward blowing up the TPP in his speech accepting the Republican Party nomination on Thursday, declaring the United States will no longer join big trade agreements and concentrate instead on enforcing and renegotiating existing trade pacts. [Doug Palmer| July 22, 2016 |Politico] “No longer will we enter into these massive transactions,…
The final Democratic Party platform does not mention discrepancies within the Democratic Party on the Trans-Pacific Partnership that were laid out in a July 1 draft platform, and falls short of taking an official stance on the deal. [Daily News| July 25, 2016 |Inside US Trade] The final platform — just like the draft version — says…
President Obama’s top spokesman said Obama supports Hillary Clinton’s decision to pick Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, despite his recent about-face on one of Obama’s legacy priorities — ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. [Nicole Duran| July 25, 2016 |Washington Examiner] “I’ll let Sen. Kaine discusses his position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” press secretary…
Donald Trump this year single-handedly overturned years of free-trade orthodoxy among Republican political leaders — which is making his choice of a running mate a bit awkward. [William Maulding| July 15, 2016 |Wall Street Journal] Mr. Trump said Friday on Twitter his vice presidential pick is Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana. Mr. Pence, like many…
