Thursday, October 08, 2015

Hillary Clinton opposed to TTP

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has announced she opposes the expansive 12-nation Pacific Rim free trade accord finalised by the Obama administration this week, breaking sharply with the president over a deal she had championed while serving as secretary of state.

Ms Clinton said in an interview with PBS that she would not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) based on what she knows of the deal so far. The 30-chapter text of the agreement, which negotiators concluded Monday, has not been made public.

The immediate impact of Ms. Clinton’s move is that it is likely to make securing the deal harder, assuming she brings wavering lawmakers to her side, and it raises the possibility the matter will be punted beyond the 2016 elections. Only 28 House Democrats voted with most House Republicans in June to give Congress expedited powers to approve the pact. Mr. Obama can’t lose more than a handful of supporters before the deal would be imperiled.

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