Trump’s anti-trade rhetoric rattles the campaign message of Clinton and unions
Trump’s anti-trade rhetoric rattles the campaign message of Clinton and unions
David Nakamura and David Weigel
Washington Post
Clinton, who scrambled to move left on trade during her tough primary fight against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, now finds herself again facing attacks on the issue — this time from Trump. He used his Pittsburgh-area speech to disparage her association with a pair of major trade agreements — one negotiated by President Bill Clinton’s administration and the other by President Obama’s while she served as secretary of state.
For Hillary Clinton, the risk is not necessarily losing support directly to Trump but rather not inspiring enough enthusiasm among rank-and-file union workers, whose turnout and ground-level organizing have traditionally been crucial for Democrats.
Clinton already has the endorsements of several of the nation’s largest labor organizations, including the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers, but faces the question of whether that organized support will be enough hold the labor voting bloc together at a time when Trump has co-opted the traditional labor message about the perils of free trade and globalization.
Even for the big labor groups that have gotten behind Clinton, much of their initial efforts have focused less on touting her merits on trade and more on trying to undermine Trump’s appeals to the working class. The AFL-CIO has produced a pair of online ads denouncing Trump’s integrity and sincerity on trade, with video of the mogul acknowledging that his clothes were manufactured in Asia.
It would be tragic if Trump actually succeeds in taking this issue away from the left. Mrs. Clinton has already come out against TPP, so it's time for the party to
get it's shit together and write that opposition into the platform and deprive Trump of this attack.
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