Elizabeth Warren: Obama is the one who is wrong on trade

Elizabeth Warren fired back at the White House over a controversial trade deal, saying Barack Obama is the one who is in the wrong.

In a blog post on Wednesday morning, the Massachusetts Democrat said it’s unfair for the White House to show corporations the contents of a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, but to ask Congress to sign off on it, sight unseen.


“When giant corporations get to see the details and the American people don’t, we all lose. Let’s level the playing field: No vote on fast-tracking trade until the public can read the TPP deal,” Warren wrote in a post titled “ You can’t read this” on her campaign website.

Warren’s missive is the latest blow in an escalating fight between Obama and his fellow Democrats over what is expected to be the largest trade deal in history, covering more than 40 percent of global GDP. A number of progressive Democrats fear the deal could undercut U.S. wages and ship jobs overseas.

Obama said on Tuesday that he loves Warren, “but she’s wrong on this.”

Warren turned those words against the White House on Wednesday.

“The Administration says I’m wrong — that there’s nothing to worry about,” she said in the blog post. “They say the deal is nearly done, and they are making a lot of promises about how the deal will affect workers, the environment, and human rights. Promises – but people like you can’t see the actual deal.”

The fast-track deal is all or nothing, Warren wrote.

“If most of the trade deal is good for the American economy, but there’s a provision hidden in the fine print that could help multinational corporations ship American jobs overseas or allow for watering down of environmental or labor rules, fast track would mean that Congress couldn’t write an amendment to fix it,” she wrote.