Tim Kaine vice presidential campaign, 2016/International trade
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This page was current as of the 2016 election.
Despite strong differences on international trade, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump found agreement on one issue: the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Both candidates oppose the trade deal because they believe it will cause Americans to lose jobs.
See what Tim Kaine and the Democratic Party Platform said about international trade below.
Kaine on international trade
- Before he became Hillary Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine expressed tentative support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. In interviews conducted on July 11, 2016, and July 21, 2016, Kaine said he viewed upgrades to labor standards, environmental standards, and intellectual property protections that were part of the deal as favorable, but was troubled by its dispute resolution mechanism. When Kaine agreed to be Hillary Clinton's running mate, he also committed to join Clinton in opposing the trade deal.[1][2]
- On June 24, 2015, by a vote of 60-38, the Senate approved trade promotion authority (TPA) as part of HR 2146 - Defending Public Safety Employees' Retirement Act. Kaine was one of 13 Democrats to vote in favor of the bill. After, Senate Republican leadership honored a pledge to support trade adjustment assistance (TAA) by passing the measure as part of HR 1295 - Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 by voice vote. The House passed HR 1295 the following day, on June 25, 2015, and both TPA and TAA were signed into law on June 29, 2015.[3][4][5]
- On May 22, 2015, Kaine voted with 13 other Democratic senators to approve HR 1314, which was used as a legislative vehicle for trade legislation with the titles "Trade Act of 2015" and the "Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015." The bill passed with a vote of 62-37 and proposed giving the president trade promotion authority (TPA). TPA, also known as fast track authority, allows the president to negotiate trade deals that cannot be amended by Congress. Congress casts a simple up or down vote on a trade agreement, and the legislation only requires a simple majority for approval. The bill also included a statement of trade priorities and provisions for trade adjustment assistance. President Obama signed the bill into law on November 2, 2015.[6][7]
- Kaine was a co-sponsor of the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act of 2014, introduced in the Senate on July 30, 2014. While the bill did not advance in the Senate, it would have reauthorized the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which lends to foreign buyers to make U.S. exports competitive, through FY2019. The Export-Import Bank was later reauthorized as part of a transportation bill, signed into law on December 4, 2015. Kaine supported this legislation; it passed the Senate with a vote of 83-16.[8][9][10][11]
Trans-Pacific Partnership
- During an interview on August 7, 2016, NBC's Chuck Todd said Tim Kaine "essentially switched" his position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) when Hillary Clinton asked him to join her campaign. Kaine disagreed with Todd's assessment, saying, "I haven’t switched my position. I was a strong supporter a year ago of giving President Obama the ability to negotiate a trade deal. But I said at the time, when that deal was done and on the table, I was going to look at it very carefully. And I even expressed a very serious concern I had with how it was developed, which is that companies were given rights to enforce provisions, but the labor and environmental provisions could not be effectively enforced. That was never fixed. I've asked again and again to understand this piece of the TPP. And I've never gotten a good answer. We can't have a deal that cannot be enforced. And so, for that reason, yeah, I'm going to oppose it in the lame duck if it comes up after Election Day."[12]
- The Huffington Post reported on July 22, 2016, that after Clinton named Kaine as her running mate, "Kaine had told the former secretary of state that he would oppose President Barack Obama’s signature trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, in its current form. [An] aide said that at some point in Kaine and Clinton’s two conversations prior to the selection ― which she made Friday night, eight days after the first meeting ― he agreed with her that a trade deal had to meet certain criteria on protecting wages and national security, and that the TPP did not."[13]
| CNN, "Tim Kaine on why he opposes TPP," July 31, 2016. |
- In interviews conducted on July 11, 2016, and July 21, 2016, Kaine said he viewed upgrades to labor standards, environmental standards, and intellectual property protections that were part of the TPP as favorable, but he added that he was troubled by its dispute resolution mechanism. He said, "I am having discussions with groups around Virginia about the treaty itself. I see much in it to like. I think it's an upgrade of labor standards. I think it's an upgrade of environmental standards, I think it's an upgrade in intellectual property protections. I do see at least right now that there is one element that I do have some very significant concerns about. And that is the dispute resolution mechanism. And I've got a lot of concerns about that. But long before there would be a vote on that I'm trying to climb the learning curve on the areas where I have questions. So again, much of it I see I think as a significant improvement over the status quo. The dispute resolution mechanism I still have some significant concerns about."[14][15]
- In an op-ed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, on May 16, 2015, Kaine explained his pro-trade stance and why he planned to vote for TPA, adding that his support for TPA was not a guarantee that he would vote for the TPP. He wrote, "All agree that trade, under the right conditions, benefits our economy. The question is whether we can negotiate deals that protect workers’ rights, environmental standards and intellectual property, while knocking down tariffs and other barriers that some countries erect to keep American products out. If we don’t insist upon high standards, the other dominant global trade actor, China, will be perfectly happy to compete under a low-standard regime that will further damage our economy. After much discussion with labor, agriculture and business leaders, I will support TPA because it gives the U.S. the best chance of elevating the standards for global trade in ways that will level the playing field for our workers, farmers and companies. My support for TPA is not a blind endorsement of any pending trade negotiation. Once we establish our key principles, I will make sure that the specifics of any final deal are placed before the public and fully debated to see if they meet our standards and help Virginia. We have to make sure that any deal can be enforced and that any workers negatively affected by trade have robust job retraining opportunities. I am pro-trade, but I’m pro-Virginia first."[16]
- Shortly before Congress passed TPA, Kaine said in a statement on May 14, 2015, "I refused to allow consideration of trade legislation until the Senate passed strong enforcement measures. As we prepare to take up major trade initiatives in the coming months, my biggest priority is ensuring we can negotiate enforceable deals that protect workers' rights, environmental standards and intellectual property, while eliminating barriers that some countries erect to keep American products out."[17]
| The 2016 Democratic Party Platform on trade | ||||||
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Recent news
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ CBS News, "Tim Kaine changes course on TPP after VP nod," July 23, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Kaine praised TPP as recently as Thursday," July 22, 2016
- ↑ Senate.gov, "Roll Call for HR 2146," June 24, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Senate approves fast-track, sending trade bill to White House," June 24, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Obama signs trade bills," June 29, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "HR 1314," accessed May 25, 2015
- ↑ Senate.gov, "H.R. 1314 (Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act)," accessed May 25, 2015
- ↑ Congress.gov, "S.2709," accessed August 3, 2016
- ↑ Congress.gov, "HR 22," accessed August 3, 2016
- ↑ PBS, "Stop pretending you know what the Export-Import Bank is," September 15, 2014
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "Export-Import Bank: Frequently Asked Questions," April 13, 2016
- ↑ PolitiFact, "Tim Kaine says he hasn't changed his position on Trans-Pacific Partnership (unlike Clinton)," accessed August 16, 2016
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Hillary Clinton Names Tim Kaine As Her Running Mate," accessed August 16, 2016
- ↑ CBS News, "Tim Kaine changes course on TPP after VP nod," July 23, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Kaine praised TPP as recently as Thursday," July 22, 2016
- ↑ Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Kaine: Virginia is a global gateway," accessed August 16, 2016
- ↑ Daily Press, "With Kaine and Warner support, trade bill moves ahead," accessed August 16, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
