#DemsinPhilly Day Four: When Clinton Takes the Stage, Will Trade Come Up?

By Matthew McMullan
Jul 28 2016 |
What’s it gonna be on the TPP, Hillary? | File photo.

An awful lot of people in the Democratic tent will want to know.

Trade continues to roil the Democratic National Convention. There’s been a lot of discussion over a top Clinton ally’s comments on nominee Hillary Clinton’s commitment to her newfound trade-skepticism.

And – take this for what you will – but there have been plenty of anti-trade signs flying around Philadelphia this week.

So, as we gear up for the climax of the convention, the next question is obvious: What will Clinton say about it – and particular, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – when she takes the stage tonight to accept her party’s nomination?

The story after President Barack Obama gave a well-received address on Wednesday night was this: Hillary Clinton is Obama’s political heir.

But here’s wrinkle no. 1: Hillary has been pretty clear on the campaign trail (up until recently) about her distaste for the TPP.

And here’s wrinkle no. 2: Obama didn’t mention the TPP at all in his Wednesday remarks.

Many unions, who nonetheless support Clinton, really want her to take the stage and squash the TPP tonight. They want to hear her say it won’t get past a Clinton White House, or at the very least, without major rewrites.

At the Alliance for American Manufacturing, we’re not calling to scrap the deal. We just want to make sure it addresses stuff like currency manipulation, which seriously hamstrings American industries that export a lot of their goods. The TPP as currently written doesn't touch currency.

For what it’s worth, we also know this: more and more of these liberalizing trade deals have not been necessarily good for American manufacturing workers. Consider what happened to them after Washington normalized trade relations with China 15 years ago. Research has since:

  • found that American manufacturing employment fell off a cliff after the United States normalized trade relations with China in 2001;
  • revealed workers in industries and regions in America most exposed to Chinese imports ended up stuck in dead-end, low-paying work and often in need of government assistance; and
  • found that congressional districts exposed to trade were much more likely to elect ideologically extreme representatives to Congress.

And for those of us out there who say the TPP has nothing to do with China (paging Rand Paul), remember that President Obama himself has said otherwise, vociferously.

There is plenty of reason behind the trade skepticism with which the Democratic Party is now wrestling. So, back to that question: What will Hillary Clinton say about it tonight?