Democrat field, all 23 of them, led by Floppy Joe Biden, fail to take position on TPP trade deal

basquebromance

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Nov 26, 2015
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from the article:

"Toward the end of his vice presidency, Joe Biden was a prime player in the administrationā€™s bid to win support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the failed trade deal that was supposed to be the crowning achievement of Barack Obamaā€™s presidency-long ā€œpivot to Asia.ā€ Biden liked to hold up two maps of the Pacific regionā€”one shaded in blue to show Americaā€™s influence in the region if the deal passed, and one shaded in red to show Chinaā€™s growing influence if it didnā€™t.

ā€œI think itā€™s very, very important to understand that the 20th-century rules of the road no longer exist, and new ones have to be written, and we should write them,ā€ I heard him say in April 2015, to a gathering of the insistently moderate New Democrat Coalition at a hotel on the Chesapeake Bay. To other crowds, Biden and others in the administration would try to sell TPP as Obamaā€™s trade deal, arguing that people should support it because they liked and trusted the president.

On the eve of the first presidential-primary debates, however, Bidenā€™s 2020 campaign wouldnā€™t say whether he still supported the deal. Heā€™s far from aloneā€”Democratic candidates are quick to say theyā€™d immediately rejoin the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement, both of which Obama helped put in place, but his TPP remains toxic. Even as Biden is running explicitly as a restoration of the Obama presidency, his campaign press secretary declined to comment on what his position is, other than to point to recent remarks the former vice president has made: that he opposes President Donald Trumpā€™s trade war, and that heā€™d like higher labor standards in the revamped NAFTA agreement that the current administration is hoping to get approved by Congress. The campaign says more details on what heā€™d do on trade will be coming soon.

That seems to reflect the Democratic Partyā€™s current crisis on trade, with even most of the people running for the presidential nomination unable to articulate a clear vision of what Americaā€™s approach should be. The Atlantic asked 23 Democratic presidential candidates whether they support TPP and would want to restart negotiations if elected, and received only some definitive responses. Of the people who were firm in their answers, former Representative John Delaney of Maryland is the only one who said yes.

Several candidatesā€™ campaigns didnā€™t provide answers on their current position on TPP despite repeated requests: South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; and Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
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Joe Biden Wonā€™t Say If He Backs the Trade Deal He Helped Sell
 
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Biden is a lost soul. he keeps flipping and flopping. his favorite footwear is sandals. first he flips then he flops!
 

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