Episode Transcript
Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.
Use Ctrl + F to search
0:00
You're listening to Taking Stock with Kathleen
0:03
Hays and Pim Box on Bloomberg Radio.
0:06
No TPP has
0:08
been a popular slogan in chants
0:10
and printed signs at the Democratic National
0:13
Convention because of broad opposition
0:15
to the Trans Pacific Partnership trade
0:17
deal. It is heavily favored by President
0:20
Barack Obama, but it is also heavily
0:22
opposed by primary loser, Senator
0:24
Bernie Sanders. Here to tell
0:27
us more, Irene Vanelle Hanigman, adjunct
0:29
Professor of International Affairs at
0:31
Columbia University, and
0:34
she joins us now, Irene,
0:36
thank you very much for being with us. UM. How
0:38
is the Democratic Party going to
0:40
reconcile the opposition to the
0:43
Trans Pacific Partnership inasmuch
0:45
as President Obama is so heavily
0:48
in favor of it, UM, I think
0:50
this is going to be actually a
0:52
major problem. Having been
0:55
in the Clinton administrations in the
0:57
nineties nineties, I feel like we were
0:59
living battles of NAFTA twenty
1:01
three years later with a lot of residual
1:04
bitterness. Perhaps we
1:06
never paid attention to what the actual
1:08
impact was of NAFTA
1:11
on particularly a small and rural
1:13
areas across America over
1:16
these decades. The problem
1:18
is that Hillary Clinton, in many
1:20
ways is now caught in a bind because
1:22
she originally called it the gold standard. A
1:24
Secretary of State, she promoted it.
1:27
It is very much part of what Obama
1:29
would like to see as his legacy. However,
1:32
because of the Sanders campaign,
1:35
and what to me is even very
1:37
odd is this is a time where
1:39
both Democrats on the left
1:41
and Republicans have voiced
1:44
very strong disapproval of this deal,
1:47
so she now appears to
1:49
be completely against it. However,
1:52
the question is how in
1:54
fact will she be able to perhaps
1:57
have to calibrate or recalibrate
1:59
the biggest problem she faces if she
2:02
cannot appear to be fudging
2:04
on this issue, uh as she
2:06
could risk totally losing the
2:08
Sanders supporters that she does. She definitely
2:11
needs um. I think the
2:14
problem to me is that this
2:16
is a code word, and it almost
2:18
seems like t p P is not really understood
2:21
for what it is. A tremendously complex
2:23
trade agreement which in fact
2:26
as supposed to promote exports and
2:28
help particularly small and medium
2:30
businesses, but in fact
2:33
has simply now been equated with losing
2:35
American jobs. And this is
2:37
sort of the cry on both the right and
2:39
the left. UM not at
2:42
all clear how she will proceed,
2:44
but I certainly do not see this as
2:46
a topic that's going to go away. We just
2:49
saw it explode and almost explode.
2:51
Uh just two days ago when Terry mccauliff
2:54
suddenly stated that she may want
2:56
to rethink her position, and he was
2:58
immediately put down by Camp Pine chair
3:01
John poggested that will not be the case, so
3:03
clearly ongoing problems. Well, I mean, you know,
3:06
economists, the consensus view, of course
3:08
is that trade is good for the economy,
3:11
and I think that the more complicated
3:13
question then is he yes, is it good for big
3:15
corporations who who benefit?
3:18
Is it good for American workers who might lose their jobs
3:20
because some of these jobs go to the countries,
3:23
and that's what Donald Trump has been exploiting. It
3:25
also seems that since um,
3:28
Barack Obama now is
3:30
going to go on the road apparently for the next three
3:33
months and try to help Hillary and
3:35
other Democrats running for office.
3:38
This is something he pushed for on his watch.
3:40
So it's very tough for Hillary now, I think, for
3:43
to shift her
3:45
position. And where does that leave Barack Obama won't
3:47
there be a lot of questions on the trail about this. Well,
3:51
I am quite concerned about that. And
3:53
the question is are they going
3:55
to be able to deflect it uh
3:57
and simply to turn it around to more mediate
4:01
issues? And uh, you know,
4:03
in a way, will Donald Trump continue
4:05
giving them gifts of very strange,
4:07
outrageous tweets Uh that sort
4:10
of distracts them? But at the
4:12
end of the day, yes, she is finally
4:14
going to have to explain much
4:16
more clearly why she is
4:19
now specifically against it, uh
4:22
and in a way try to square that
4:24
with the president's position. I'm
4:27
not sure how she is going to manage
4:29
to do this. Uh. The other problem,
4:31
of course, is that both labor unions and
4:33
environmental groups that are
4:35
a core part of the Democratic constituency
4:38
have come out very strongly against it.
4:41
Uh. So this is going to make the
4:43
the issue even even more complex. As
4:45
the co author of International Banking
4:48
for a New Century, what does
4:50
a Glass Stiegel Act for the twenty
4:52
one century look like? Um?
4:57
I was, you know, both
4:59
amused of a little bit stunned when
5:01
Senator Sanders made that
5:04
claim that that should definitely
5:06
be part of the platform. Again,
5:10
I think there is an oversimplification,
5:12
and this was in part one of the problems
5:14
that Senator Senders had when he came to
5:17
New York during the primaries and spoke
5:19
about breaking up big banks. Uh,
5:22
it is very unclear whether you
5:25
can go further than what is already
5:27
now in place, which is the Vocal
5:29
rule, like in the UK, the Vickers
5:32
Rule, which clearly separates
5:35
basic banking from trading functions
5:37
in the most basic terms. Uh,
5:40
is it now possible to actually
5:42
bring American banks back to
5:44
the type of structure and methodology
5:47
they had in the nine nineties. I don't think
5:49
so. I think there's too much
5:51
interconnectivity between US
5:54
banks and foreign banks. Would
5:56
this put US banks in a position
5:58
of losing competitiveness? Where
6:01
does this put foreign banks with major
6:03
presence in the US. I'm
6:06
gonna have to leave it there. Irene Vlhana would
6:08
thank you so very much for joining
6:10
us from Columbia University.
6:12
This is Bloomberg
Podchaser is the ultimate destination for podcast data, search, and discovery. Learn More