Bernie Sanders

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a news conference outside his campaign headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

(Alex Brandon)

Shifting his campaign's focus away from winning the White House, Bernie Sanders called on supporters this week to join him in urging the Democratic Party to come out against an Obama administration-backed trade deal with countries in the Asia-Pacific.

The Vermont senator, who has vowed to take his presidential bid to the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, asked backers to help him push for an amendment to the party's platform committee stating that "the Trans-Pacific Partnership must not get a vote in this Congress or in future sessions of Congress."

Contending that the effort "is not about embarrassing anyone," Sanders said his goal in urging the party to adopt the policy is to prevent jobs from being outsourced, protect the environment, respect human rights and stop pharmaceutical companies from increasing drug prices.

With the platform committee set to meet July 8 in Orlando, Sanders urged supporters to "add your name to tell the DNC Platform Committee to make sure the party's platform includes our amendment to prevent the disastrous TPP trade deal from ever coming up for a vote."

If we all make our voices heard, we can win the fight against the TPP. Sign our petition and stand with us: https://t.co/E2HUqI1Guv #StopTPP — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 30, 2016

The senator stressed that if the platform committee doesn't adopt the amendment, he will take his fight to the convention floor next month.

President Barack Obama, however, took issue this week with such criticism of global trade, including the TPP, saying "the prescription of withdrawing from trade deals and focusing solely on your local market, that's the wrong medicine."

"My pushback on both the left and the right when it comes to protectionism or anti-trade arguments is you are right to be concerned about the trends, but what you're prescribing will not work," he told reporters in Ottawa, Canada Wednesday.

According to the Obama administration, the TPP will help the country "rewrite the rules of trade to benefit America's middle class." If the United States doesn't, it contends, " competitors who don't share our values, like China, will step in to fill that void."

Although Sanders' presidential dreams have largely faded with rival Hillary Clinton winning enough delegate support to be deemed the presumptive Democratic nominee, the senator has continued to push his message in recent weeks in an effort to influence the party's platform.

He told supporters in Albany, New York last week that his campaign was in talks with Clinton to "try to determine whether or not they can come up with some very serious proposals which will help us transform America."

"Whether it will happen or not remains a good question," he added. "We are working with them right now."

The senator is not the only presidential candidate to take aim at the TPP this week.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reportedly called the trade deal "another disaster, done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country," during a Wednesday rally in Ohio.