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Obama: Trade deal needed to for U.S. to be a global leader

by Ben Kamisar - 04/25/15 6:00 AM ET

President Obama touted the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership as an important way to maintain American leadership in the global economy Saturday during his weekly address, as many critics question the deal’s merits.

“If America doesn’t shape the rules of the global economy today, to benefit our workers, while our economy is in a position of new global strength, then China will write those rules,” Obama said about the burgeoning trade deal with 11 other countries, mostly in Asia.

“It’s got strong provisions for workers and the environment — provisions that, unlike in past agreements, are actually enforceable.”

{mosads}Obama’s remarks come as controversy over the deal has split many lawmakers in his party. Some fear the treaty would be a raw deal for American workers and could lead to more jobs being exported overseas.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have helped to lead the charge against the measure. Sanders and fellow Democratic White House hopeful, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, have even criticized Hillary Clinton for her previous support of the deal.

But Obama is standing firm against the criticism and characterized the sentiment as misguided.

“If I didn’t think this was the right thing to do for working families, I wouldn’t be fighting for it,” he said in the weekly address.

“We’ve spent the past six years trying to rescue the economy, retool the auto industry and revitalize American manufacturing. And if there were ever an agreement that undercut that progress, or hurt those workers, I wouldn’t sign it.”

He added the treaty could repair much of “what was wrong” with the North American Free Trade Agreement, a trade deal passed through Congress in the early 1990s under President Clinton, despite opposition from liberal Democrats.

Tags Bernie Sanders Elizabeth Warren Hillary Clinton