Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said on Thursday he supports the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, putting him at odds with Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, for whom he has been campaigning.
{mosads}”We’ve had tremendous success in growing our economy but obviously this trade agreement will allow us to continue to do what we need to do,” he said during a White House call to discuss the TPP with Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.
In 2014, $6.7 billion of goods from Virginia — about 35 percent of total exports — went to TPP partners, he said.
“I support this agreement. I support it as governor because I have to grow the economy, and if we’re going to grow the economy, we need to make sure that we can compete on a global basis,” he said.
McAuliffe, a longtime ally of the Bill and Hillary Clinton, serves on the her 2016 campaign’s Virginia Leadership Council. But while he is vocally supporting the deal, Clinton is defending her opposition to the agreement.
Clinton’s objection to the TPP last month drew criticism from her Democratic presidential rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-Md.), both of whom had long opposed the agreement. They’ve since used it to cast the Democratic front-runner as inconsistent on issues important to the party’s progressive base.
The former secretary of State had previously backed the deal while serving in the Obama administration, and it’s a major piece of the president’s trade agenda.
Clinton has argued that the final deal no longer meets her “high bar” for trade agreements: stimulating job growth, raising wages and protecting America’s national security interests. At a campaign event earlier this month, she said that trade deals should be paired with education and training programs to help American workers.
“If you open the door to trade, which I’m all for, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got people in your own country who are able to compete for those jobs,” she said.
On the press call, McAuliffe went on to cite a recent Virginia Chamber of Commerce report showing that 30 percent of Virginia’s economy was driven by exports between 2009 and 2014.
The governor acknowledged that the majority of consumers and the bulk of economic growth is occurring — and will expand in the future — off U.S. shores. He said Virginians need more avenues to take advantage of those opportunities.
“We need to go where the consumers are,” he said.
McAuliffe highlighted that while his state is the top recipient of federal defense dollars — Virginia has the largest naval base in the world — there needs to be less reliance on federal money to drive the economy.
“So every day I talk about bringing in new business, diversify our economy,” he said.
On Friday, McAuliffe is headed for a two-week trip to India, Kuwait, Dubai and Abu Dhabi “to open up markets for us.” He took trips last year to China, Japan and Korea.
Clinton’s campaign has not returned a request for a comment.