Final Democratic Platform Pushes Fair Trade, Omits Anti-TPP Sentiment

After chants of “no TPP” swelled through the arena during the speech by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia the evening of July 25, delegates approved a party platform (here) that identifies a need for fair, labor-protecting trade deals but stops short of aligning with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s stated opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “Over the past three decades, America has signed too many trade deals that have not lived up to the hype,” the Democratic platform says. “Trade deals often boosted the profits of large corporations, while at the same time failing to protect workers’ rights, labor standards, the environment, and public health. We need to end the race to the bottom and develop trade policies that support jobs in America.” The vast majority of the platform’s trade section contains the same language as its draft (see 1607110038). For example, like the draft, it doesn’t outright condemn the presence of investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms in trade agreements, yet says that democratic decision-making “must not” be undermined through “special interests” and “private courts for corporations” in trade deals, whose negotiations should be “transparent and inclusive.”