[Daily News| October 04, 2016 |Inside US Trade]
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet (D) has put himself in the camp of Trans-Pacific Partnership skeptics who say they can’t support the deal without key changes – though he hopes the U.S. does not “just walk away” from it entirely.
Asked by a Colorado television station whether voters “deserve” to know his “final” position on TPP before they vote, Bennet said “I think Colorado voters and I have been in a dialogue about this – and it seems to me that this is probably dead on arrival because of what [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell has said last week.”
McConnell said the deal is effectively dead unless the next president revives it.
Bennet then pivoted to language on trade that suggested he could be easily swayed to vote in favor of TPP should unnamed changes be made.
“My hope over the long term though is that we get to a place in our political debate where we can once again be in the position to have the United States setting the rules for trade in Asia rather than having China set the rules for trade in Asia, which is what’s going to happen if we just walk away from this negotiation altogether,” he said. “There may be flaws in the agreement, there may be challenges that we need to overcome, but I think Republicans and Democrats need to work together to try to overcome those challenges so that our participation in that region of the world remains a leadership position.”
