Stiff Domestic Headwinds For Administration in Trade Talks

Unless they can bargain their way out of it, a battle is shaping up between the Administration and union supporters in the Democratic party. Unions are as inclined as ever to dismiss the familiar “win-win” argument cited by free trade advocates. “It always turns out to be far worse than they predict,” says Bill Samuel, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s legislative director, no doubt with the aftereffects of Nafta on his mind. Samuel is quoted in a New York Times article that explains the opposition that has surfaced to the two major trade deals now on the table, one with Europe and one that includes the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries. That opposition solidified a few days ago with Harry Reid’s declaration that he was against giving so called fast-track authority to Obama with regard to negotiating the terms of those pacts. Reid is the Senate Majority Leader and senior senator from Nevada, a relatively strong union state. It fell to Secretary of State John Kerry to try to reassure trade pact advocates and foreign negotiators: Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, as reported in The Hill, Kerry suggested that in due time Reid and the opposition Democrats would come around. “I think all of us have learned to interpret a comment on one day in the United States Senate as not necessarily what might be the situation in a matter of months or in some period of time,” Kerry said. Another take on the issue, with a closer look at how some Asian countries view the potential Trans-Pacific Partnership, comes from The Associated Press, in an article that was picked up by the South China Morning Post.