Democrats suddenly concerned about what FTA's do to workers

Remember when Obama pretended to care about how the free trade agreements destroyed the working class? It didn't last very long.

President Obama opposed "free trade" (specifically, NAFTA) when he ran for president in 2008....In the end, he did not renegotiate NAFTA. He went on to promote a trade agreement with Colombia negotiated mostly by President George W. Bush.

With his Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations (with 11 other Pacific Rim countries), Obama has totally reversed his 2008 position. He is all-in now on free trade and fast-track authority.

Funny how the real world makes political campaigning look silly compared to real governance and on-the-job-training. Businessman Donald Trump needs to learn that.

Right. "Real governance".
Gee, I wonder why the Democratic Party lost to Trump? I wonder why the Democratic Party lost the white working class? Who was actually being "silly"?

I despise Trump, but not for renegotiating NAFTA.
NAFTA 2.0/USMCA doesn't go nearly far enough, but Trump at least made a very modest effort at addressing the needs of workers.
So how do Democrats respond to Trump's efforts?

There needs “to be not only changes in the legislation but more enforcement” if the Trump administration wants votes from Democrats, said New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, who is positioned to chair the Ways and Means Trade subcommittee, in an interview on Wednesday.

Democrats’ concerns wouldn’t require a major rewrite of the deal and likely could be addressed by putting strong “enforcement mechanisms,” especially over labor and environmental rules, in the U.S. law that brings the deal into force, said Pascrell.

So NOW, after TWENTY-FOUR F*CKIN YEARS the Dems care about labor rules enforcement. Funny how this never came up in, say, TPP negotiations.

While the lawmaker didn’t outline specific changes his party is seeking to the deal, Democrats have been consistent in pushing for tougher labor provisions.

"Consistent" for less than a week!
Hey, I hope that the Dems can improve NAFTA 2.0, but let's not kid ourselves: this is political theater.

“Without enforcement you don’t have anything. Without it, you are, shall we say, just rebranding Nafta,” Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said last week, days before voters swept her party back into power.

“Right now, it is a work in progress,” said Mrs. Pelosi, a former speaker who is expected to reclaim that post. “Mexico has to pass a law about labor rights in Mexico, so that has not happened yet and that is a predicate of this agreement. Most important of all are the enforcement provisions in terms of labor and the environment. Enforcement, enforcement, enforcement.”

Imagine if Pelosi and the Dems felt this way in 1993, or 2008.

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his record

Biden has not supported every free trade bill he’s been presented with—’yea’ on free trade with Australia and Morocco;‘nay’ on free trade with Oman, Singapore, and Chile, as well as implementing the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement. In the past the former Vice President stressed the need for worker and environmental protections in trade agreements, although, like Clinton, he did vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement, credited with causing a substantial loss of American jobs. That tune changed in 2008 after Barack Obama selected him as a running mate. Biden went on record to say he supported renegotiating the deal to be more favorable to the U.S. As Vice President, he also voiced full-throated support the Trans Pacific Partnership, much as Clinton had. Unlike Clinton, however, he never backtracked from that position.

And yet, this is how he's being sold

Joe Biden stepped into a union hall here on Tuesday, spinning another folksy tale, this one about his uncle from Scranton, Pa., who would tell him: ‘Joe, you’re labor from belt buckle to shoe sole.’”

Two days into a big Midwestern push this week that will take him to at least six states — five of which President Donald Trump carried — the former vice president was in familiar form, reminding Democrats of the lane he’ll occupy if he decides to run for president in 2020: the party’s ambassador to the working class.

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dance you monster's picture

@gjohnsit

Ambassadors traditionally are assigned to spread a gloss over problems that arise from one's policies.

Republicans might exist to steal from the working class every way and every opportunity they can. Democrats exist to get the working class to shut up about it.

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karl pearson's picture

@gjohnsit Today on the MSM I saw Romney being floated as a challenger to Trump in 2020. Votes are still being counted from last week's election and the media have selected Biden's opponent. I don't believe either of these men will appear on the 2020 ticket. The Republican base was very unhappy about Romney in 2012 and they showed what they thought of another Bush when Jeb! flamed out early in the 2016 Republican primary.

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the establishments Dems go up in flames the size of all the fires in Cali put together.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

"I despise Trump, but not for renegotiating NAFTA.
NAFTA 2.0/USMCA doesn't go nearly far enough, but Trump at least made a very modest effort at addressing the needs of workers."

I'm in shock that you wrote a mildly positive comment about Trump. Am I in the right place??? I must be dreaming...........

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dfarrah

TheOtherMaven's picture

@dfarrah

even though the rest of the time it's rolling right over everybody and everything.

That's the devil's bargain the country made, choosing a wildly unpredictable bigmouth vulgarian over an entirely too predictable slick grifter.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@TheOtherMaven campaign promise to re-do the trade agreements; this had nothing to do with 'loose cannon.'

The diary cites the renewed dem interest in workers. Do you think Trump's success with those voters has anything to do with this renewed interest?

Call it whatever you wish - after all, this 'loose cannon' about workers apparently won several traditionally blue states as previously Obama counties went for Trump.

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dfarrah

@dfarrah
There is only the McResistance here.
Go back to sleep.

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