September 28, 2016 | No Comments
Sen. Elizabeth Warren staunchly defended Hillary Clinton’s opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Wednesday, two days after Donald Trump questioned her stance on trade during their debate.
Touting Clinton’s proposals as “the most progressive agenda in history,” the firebrand leader of the Democratic Party’s left wing told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd that Clinton is well aware of her opponent’s appeal to voters on the issue is and is seeking to counter it with her own concrete proposals.
“She was quite explicit once the TPP came out that this is not the deal, and she has said that she will block it if she is president of the United States.,” Warren said. “There’s no ambiguity here. She has been absolutely explicit about it, and we’ve got it — you got it on tape, you got it on video multiple, multiple times.”
During Monday night’s presidential debate, Trump pounced on Clinton’s prior support of massive trade deals and dubiously took credit for Clinton’s independent policy shift on the matter.
“You were totally in favor of it. Then you heard what I was saying, how bad it is, and you said, ‘I can’t win that debate,’” Trump said.
Clinton, who previously supported the TPP before reneging her commitment to it during the Democratic primaries, has seen her past trade policy positions targeted by Trump for months on the campaign trail. Trump, who frequently boasts about his opposition to the TPP and other deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, made the issue a central topic of Monday night’s first general election presidential debate.
Warren, who shares in Clinton and Trump’s opposition to the deal, blasted Trump for having “no ideas on trade” and demanded he elaborate on his proposals.
“Trump is good at fulminating. He’s good at waving his hands and raising his voice, but he has no fundamental idea. He just kind of does this magic. Oh, well I’m going to negotiate a better deal,” she said, mimicking the Republican nominee. “Better deal how? What exactly is your idea, Donald Trump, for trying to do better trade for the United States? There’s just no there there with him.”