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tv   Inside Story  Al Jazeera  June 19, 2015 5:30am-6:01am EDT

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waterloo is an opportunity to live in the past for a few days and wear some fabulous uniforms. barnabie phillips. keep up to date for news around the world and check out our website any time that is al jazeera.com, again al jazeera.com. stinging set back in his efforts to negotiate a massive new trade agreement with a dozen pass iic rim countries, it was -- pacific rim countries, members of his own party denied him the authority to strike a deal. now the house, led by the republican charge sent a new
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trade majority bill to the senate. let's make a deal - it's together's inside story welcome to "inside story", i'm ray suarez, today's vote in the house, to give president barack obama the authority he needs to finish negotiations on a multinational trade deal was close. 218 to 2:08. trade promotion is hardy out of the woods. the senate passed a version of the bill. including worker protection that are not in the house bill. and it's not certain a tpa measure will be able to pass in the senate. at least for now, the president can look forward to another bite at the apple, rather than back to a stinging defeat. >> on the
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photo. eyes 218. nays 208. >> new life for president obama's trade ship legislation. house law narrowly passed tpa thursday after noon. giving the president the power to fast-track trade agreement without the risk of congress changing them after negotiations, clearing the way for the trans-pacific partnership or t.p.p., the largest free trade agreement history. >> an active trade program owes authority is critical for our security. the pact puts them in a rare position. clabing with democrats. the arts were fierce on both sides of the aisle. >> this gives protection to multi mags tall organization. we look at every poll, from the
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left, right, north, south, east, west. do not accept the deal, and we shouldn't either. >> 95% of the world's consumers don't live in america. we wap to make more things here, and sell them there than we need to tear down those trade barriers that make american expensive. >> reporter: tpa flatlined when house democrats defeated it in a vote friday. despite a push from the white house. president obama tried to rally ninth inning support, making a cameo at the annual congressional baseball game on thursday, and a pit stop on capitol hill on the morning of the vote. but to no avail. >> i'll be voting today to slow down the fast-track to get a better deal for the american people. bigger paychecks, better infrastructure, helping the american people fulfil the american dream.
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>> house minority leader nancy pelosi had been mum on the issue. it changed friday. when she announced she was a no vote. clearing the way for other democrats to defy the president. >> i don't think you nail anything down. it's always moving. >> to vote for t pa now, is to surrender congressional leverage, to get it right in shaping t.p.p., the most significant trade negotiation in decades. now tpa moves to the senate for approval. that puts pressure on pro-frayed democrats who demand that it be tied to a separate package to help workers hurt by the effects of globalisation. >> we want to give them that authority and make sure that american workers are protected and we have adequate workers who may be displaced as a result of trade agreements.
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>> we brought together a roundtable to discuss the trade saga, including sara anderson, creditor at the institute for policy studies, simon leicester, a trade policy analysts with cato, and kept hughes, a scholar at the woodrow wilson center. >> why is the transitional support for american workers a hang up in this debate. >> on the house side it was a tactical move for the democrats to vote for the trappingsitional adjustment adjustment. at that point there was an agreement that if the bills failed, the whole package would go down. the first vote up, more than 300 votes went against it. largely that was because departments who normally support worker assistant programs voted against it to sink the fast-track trade authority.
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>> what does it do? >> what does the trade adjustment assistance do. for workers that lose their job because their employer shifts production overseas or hurt by imports, they can get some assistance in the form of job retraining to help them get a new job. >> it's a kind of market intervention, softens the blow. >> yes. >> does that work, simon lester. >> no, it's not helpful or necessary. we have standard unemployment benefits for people that lose their jobs, so i don't think we need extra benefits for people that lose their jobs. people lose their jobs for all kinds of reasons. improvements in technology. we don't see the need for extra benefits. in a place like dalton, georgia, the center of the american carpet industry, there's not a lot of other
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indust ris around there. are you to move or hang on somewhere else, find a new job. does that transitional assistance at least help smooth the way to whatever it is you are going to end up doing next? >> right. yes, it could, in the same way that unemployment insurance would. i don't see the necessity of having it beyond what we do. i see the arguments, and it's a tactical position. i can accept it and see why people insist on it. yes, i believe in free trade and i can accept trade adjustment as a package that it is part of. i don't see the need for t axe a people. >> is this an echo of n.a.f.t.a. the site agreements, and riders and other things stuck on at the end to protect workers and the environment much is it that it didn't work or are perceived not to work.
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i think we are talking about the environment and labour rites, there were site agreements with regard to n.a.f.t.a., and the effort here is to make sure they are part of a central agreement. does that have the function of making it likely to do what it's intended to do. i heard members who have seen the agreement with are not happy. on the environment we had a list of environmental initiatives and said this with a be the most environmental friendly trade agreement ever. on tradeadjustment i disagree with simon, the emphasis on retraining and that option, unemployment assistance, is important. i would like to see us use the economic development part of the conversation to think about
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think about new businesses. is this really almost beside the point. are we having a bigger battle nitty-gritty. >> absolutely. the uprising that we saw in congress with democrats voting against their own president on this issue, has to do with more than the fast-track, and the transitional adjustment assistance. what we are seeing here is a reflection of increased sensitivity among the american public about inequality, the sense that the rules have been rigged in favour of large corpses and the wealthy. and this vote has been turned into a litmus test on which side are they standing on. >> a symbol of the moment. i think it goes beyond that. what we are realising is that trade agreements have gone beyond free trade. a lot of provisions in tpt were
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in the n.a.f.t.a. and they were intensified. they came along. they are small agreements. we finally reached the point where a lot recognised how far they have gone. they are not trade agreements. they are in ways that upset people on both sides. they are upset about property, and we have conservative groups upset about the enhanced labour protections. we are ready to have the debate about what trade agreements should do, and what and whether not. >> you come from a pro free trade institution, when you look at the other chapters, that take the state out of the management for international trade and make it corporation to corporation. countries can't pass laws, about the rules of the game. how does that hit you? it.
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but it does concern me. the investor state mechanism allows foreign corporations to sue governments for domestic laws that they don't like. it's an oversimplification, that's the way it goes. to me it goes a little too far in terms of the balance of how we won international law. traditionally it's states negotiating with each other and not giving individual rights. we could give individual rights and let anyone sue their government. to only give it to foreign investors strikes me as odd. >> son lester, sara anderson, kent hughes, stay with us. one of the justifications you hear the most in the debate about tradedeals is they'll force open foreign markets to american goods. next, we discuss whether that is fact for fiction and how a t.p.p. may change that game. let's make a deal. it's tonight's "inside story".
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story", i'm ray suarez, we are focussing on the t.p.p., the sweeping trade treatment that president obama is trying to hammer out with 11 pacific rim countries, republicans worked with the white house to get the deal on track. with us in washington, sara anderson of the institute of policy studies, simon leicester from the cato instituted. and kent hughes from the woodrow wilson center. one of the common traits is american goods would be able to go into the markets where they are competitive and do well, and have been artificially excluded. is the record mixed, can we time?
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>> it will happen in a couple of days that if there's an agreement, it implies that japan made concessions in agriculture, and it should be good for american farmers. it's possible there'll be changes in the services sector. that would open up opportunities for high end services, there's losers as well. there's bound to be concessions in textiles, if there's an agreement. it will be tough on south and north carolina. there's a question in the auto sector. it's hard to autos in japan. each has to be inspected. if there's an agreement. we may have to increase tariffs on light trucks and s.u.v., if there's not a corresponding concession in the japanese market, it could be bad for american manufacturing. >> have the promises,
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overpromised and under-delivered. is there a healthy and warranted skepticism about opening these pacific rim markets to south american goods. >> absolutely, we have a trade agreement with korea, a bilateral agreement, and in respect a lot of promises of how we'd have a trade surplus with korea, nad we have a deficit. promises with regard to the agreements on jobs, the environment, human rights, i don't see them proofing true. the labour rights provisions do not have strong enforcement. i would love to believe workers in vietnam and malaysia may get stronger rights as a result of that. we have no reason to expect that. so, again, i think it's mostly about making it easier for a large corporation to move the products their money, their goods across borders and with less interference, and it allows
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them to pit workers and communities against each other, seeking lower wages and environmental standards. >> is sara tonne something. can you picture a world where the south koreans are going to allow american polluters to hone in on the markets that they control. they mention rice. they used every trick in the book to protect the japanese market. it's a statement food, from having texas on the shelves. >> i can picture it, one is to get rid of the tariffs, japan imposes a tariff. if we negotiate those away or close to zero, we benefit. at the w.t.o., the w.t.o. is here. there are rules that say governments can't take action through domestic laws. if they are doing it, the united states government can challenge them, and they have done that successfully.
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if we push hard enough on particular sectors and open up our markets we can get into the market. part of the reason we haven't, we haven't been able to open up worker conditions, vietnam and malaysia particularly, two of the poorer members of the t.p.p. it's hard to believe that they are going to raise the standards for worker conditions, for instance, in vietnam to the level they are in a mill in south carolina. >> i don't think we would see them or the labour movement. they point to korea as an example, as they became a democracy. labour has more rights in korea, and the korean wages rise. there's that element. but there's the concern about working conditions. you read this, too, about china.
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think of the reaction if this was the 1960s, and we demonstrated as we used to, the reaction to a - the fox con factory where they had to put nets around the factory to keep people from committing suicide. i think there would be pickets. we don't want that relationship. there's a moral and an economic element here. there's within other element i didn't mention. there's an element in the agreement which i think is significant if it works out. and that is deal with state-owned enterprises. it's the first time the u.s. had a systematic response to the east arnal miracle. a different approach to growth, putting us at a disadvantage. >> quick run around the table. will this pass close to its counter form? >> yes. >> the t.p.p. or tpa. >> t.p.p. >> i'll say no. >> sara. >> i'll say no too.
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george bush - he never got the free trade. a lot could happen between now and a vote. >> fascinating. thank you for joining us on "inside story". free trade, trade expansion, new markets overseas, drive a wedge between americans who agree on a great many other things and elected officials are no different. you may be a hardy supporter and represent a group that is steadily losing market share and jobs. next, we look at the politics of the t.p.p., that's tonight's "inside story".
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you know something is up when republicans on capitol hill
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flock to support a measure proposed by president obama and his own democratic kauk cause in the -- caucus in the house shoots him down. support has a tendency to create unusual alliances. we are joined by a professor, good to have you back. >> thank you for having me. does the timing that does this debate as they are revving up the presidential elections complicate things for the primary candidates? >> it absolutely does. as you mentioned, there are so many strange bedfellows created by the issue, many are scratching our heads as we listen to people like john boehner in congress, talking about the democrats thwarting president obama, something we have seen from the republicans, and all of a sudden they were offended by it. and as we move into the
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primaries and the caucuses, this is an issue and we have seen it play out with hillary clinton and bernie sanders, who many feel may be a beneficiary. i was listening to your last segment, and there are contrasting opinions of whether it passes. but someone like a bernie sanders or elizabeth warren could benefit from that. there's a lot of progressives, and people on the democratic party opposed, and republicans on the far right. >> it will have an impact as we move into 2016. a lot of candidates have their plate call roots. governor scott walker from wisconsin, senator santorum from peninsula, governor kasic from ohio, their states are dotted with old factory towns making something the world wanted, and can't sell. can they suffer from their
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support for free trade? >> they absolutely can. rick santorum comes out. we think against it. they've been a little wishy washy. we don't know about george. they haven't gone on the record. they do recognise that it is fraught with difficulty for them when they come out. i think that's why we have seen someone like a hillary clinton trying to play both ends of this. she is kind of what we call a maybe. she may support it if it contains this, this and that, and is hit hard on that point by bernie sanders and others, that want her to come out saying she is for it or against it. it's a tough thing. these are the agreements. it was her husband that pushed through n.a.f.t.a. >> i'm glad you mentioned that. it takes us into new territory, i know liz dohl ran a few cycles
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ago, rarely have we had a prominent candidate. of senator clinton's performance, her husband candidate for president. this may be a long shadow of n.a.f.t.a., is she fairly or unfairly forced to defend her husbands adds record? >> it puts her in a precarious situation. many are harkening back and saying - calling the t.p.p. n.a.f.t.a. on steroids, is what many are calling it. there's a lot of people asorpting this agreement with n.a.f.t.a. when we get down to the nitty-gritty, there are differences. i don't think that hillary clinton will escape those comparisons, and she'll be in the awkward position of taking a stand on the t.p.p., and at the same time not either go against her husband or i think maybe more importantly president obama. as she runs for president, she
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is running to win his vote, his coalition, and we have heard clear her come out and support president obama. it will be tricky for her to say except on this issue, which is the issue of the second term. for hillary clinton, she's caught in a bind because of president clinton and president obama. and this is a key issue, and he's been willing to go against his party to push it. >> we have half a minute or so left, republicans are successful with working class whites and they are concentrated in many of the same states hammered hard by globalisation and the loss of manufacturing jobs. >> yes, absolutely, this is something, i think, that labour and that environmentalists, labour unions and others say look, you should - more moderate, reagan departments, republicans, have to come over. we can saviour jobs.
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that's why i think some of the republicans this the race go against the deal. not only like rick santorum, but others that may see others saying this is a bad deal for workers. as the issue of unemployment, equality takes over the race, is in the foreproperty of people's ninth, that may be a winning strategy for democrats and the republicans who go against it. >> jeannie teaches political signs at iona college and new york university, thank you for joining us. i'll be back with a fine word on free trade, jobs and politics >> my name is imran garda the show is called third rail, when you watch this show you're gonna find us being un-afraid. the topics will fascinate you, intrigue you... >> they take this seriously... >> let me quote you... >> there's a double standard... >>...could be a hypocrite
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