WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAU) — The Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal has been ironed out in concept, but is still not written and ready for legislators to review. That’s according to Congressman Ron Kind.
The 3rd District Democrat supports the concept of having the U.S. at the negotiating table and helping set the rules of trade, so that our producers get a fair deal. “We’re already trading with these countries, and in fact, with most of these countries, we have no standards, we have no rules, we have no ability to enforce certain things against them. That’s what exists today. This trade agreement changes that. We’re able to establish through U.S. leadership what the rules of trade will look like tomorrow.”
Kind may be a strong supporter of the Trans Pacific Partnership, but he’s withholding judgement on the final package until he reads it. “Clearly, no one has had access to the text yet, so I think at the minimum, we should at least look and see what is in it, and what it accomplishes first before we make up our mind.” Kind adds, “Just to be clear, I’m withholding judgement, because I haven’t had a chance to review all of the provisions and go through the text, and that is being drafted right now, and hopefully, it will become available to us in short order.”
This issue has split support among Democrats. Kind supports having a good trade agreement, which matches President Obama. Candidate Hillary Clinton and former Senator and again candidate Russ Feingold have no intention of supporting the agreement.
Kind says the written draft should be ready soon, and he intends to make sure the promised standards for human rights, worker protections, environmental standards, and elimination of tariffs have been taken care of. “There will be plenty of time for Members of Congress and anyone throughout the world will be able to look at this line-by-line and determine if it makes sense for us in Wisconsin, and ultimately for our country.”
(Listen to our interview with Congressman Ron Kind on our website, here.)
