O'Malley Slams Clinton on Trade Deal 'Reversal'

Former Gov. Martin O’Malley, D-MD, has come out swinging against Secretary Hillary Clinton’s apparent flip-flopping when it comes to President Barack Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade initiative.

Clinton, in an a pre-recorded interview with “News Hour” that will air later tonight, said she was not in favor of the agreement, according to CNN, a change in her policy position from when she was secretary of state. During that time, according to the report, she advocated for the trade deal “45 times between 2010 and 2013.”

When he heard the report of the position change, after a speech before the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute on Oct. 7, 2015, O’Malley stated, “Wow! That’s a reversal!” according to a statement.

“I was against the Trans Pacific Partnership months and months ago,” O’Malley said. “We were told in NAFTA all sorts of great promises and what we got in return were shuttered factories and empty pockets. I believe we need to stop stumbling backwards into bad deals.”

O’Malley added that Clinton can justify her own reversal of opinion on this, “but I didn’t have one opinion eight months ago and switch that opinion on the eve of debates.” The candidate has already issued a 15-point plan to rebuild the American Dream, including the country’s economy. O’Malley said that the TPP was a bad deal because it was not in the interest of American workers and would not raise labor or environmental standards overseas.

According to a Wall Street Journal story yesterday, O’Malley isn’t the only opponent of the trade deal.

Donald Trump has called it a “terrible deal” and VT Sen. Bernie Sanders, a frequent critic of free trade deals, called it a disaster.