04 Mar
Sanders: Bad Trade Policies Are Killing Jobs
Bad Trade Policies Are Killing Jobs
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders continued his push to win over Michigan voters Thursday morning by condemning trade agreements that he argues have negatively impacted millions of Americans.
The Vermont senator criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was implemented under President Bill Clinton, and the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, which his opponent Hillary Clinton supported as U.S. Secretary of State and then opposed as her run for presidency began.
“These are policies which are resulting in the disappearance of the American middle class,” Sanders said Thursday during a press conference at a Hyatt hotel just outside the state’s capital. “These trade policies have been supported not just by Republicans but by too many Democrats.”
Sanders said trade policies supported by Clinton, who will host an event Friday regarding American job growth in Michigan, have been a “disaster.” Sanders said he agrees with Obama on several issues, but “strongly” disagrees with him on the TPP.
Michigan, Sanders said, has lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs in the last 15 years primarily due to “failed trade policies,” including 43,000 jobs lost because of NAFTA.
“From the first days I was in Congress … I understood that NAFTA and other trade policies were being written by corporate America for one reason,” he said. “And that is that corporate America made the decision that they didn’t want to pay workers in this country a living wage … What they wanted to so was shut down plants in America, go to Mexico, go to China … and then bring their products back into America.”
