Tapper Presses Biden on Trade, Gets Him to Admit USMCA Better Than NAFTA: Doesn’t Trump ‘Deserve Some Credit for That?’
CNN’s Jake Tapper pushed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on the Obama-Biden administration’s trade record and Trump’s renegotiation of NAFTA, pressing Biden into acknowledging that its replacement, USMCA, was an improvement.
During a long, one-on-one interview on location in Michigan, the CNN host devoted a large chunk of an interview with Biden to challenge him on Trump’s 2016 appeal to working class voters and the loss of jobs from NAFTA that Biden supported when it passes Congress.
“Don’t you think that one of the reasons why President Trump has been able to appeal to the blue-collar workers that you talk about is because of his message on trade?” Tapper asked. “He pointed to NAFTA, which you supported. He pointed to Most Favored Nation status for China, which he supported. There are other factors, too, of course, automation. But the idea, the pitch that too many of these trade deals screwed you.”
“Then look what he did. Look what his tax cut did. The multibillion, trillion-dollar tax cut, wealthy in corporate America. What did it do?” Biden shot back. “They got a reward for off shoring jobs, a reward for taking. 7,000 jobs right off the bat went abroad.” Biden went on to note that, despite Trump’s promise to radically reduce the nation’s trade deficit, it has now reached record-high levels.
“So you asked and what did he do after he got elected, and you brought up the tax bill. Something else he did was renegotiated NAFTA,” Tapper noted.
“He did.”
“When you ran for president and Barack Obama ran for president you both said you would renegotiate NAFTA,” Tapper pointed out. “Nancy Pelosi said what President Trump signed into law is a, quote, ‘victory for America’s workers.’ Does he deserve credit for that?”
“No,” Biden said. “Remember, he wasn’t the one that pushed that particular one that passed. The house amended the bill, amended the bill. It’s a big deal. They amended it.”
“He signed it,” Tapper noted.
“He was giving pharma a way out, a gigantic break the way he’s doing now with pharma,” Biden said. “They are building overseas and getting tax breaks for it. That’s what it was about with him. They said we’re not going to do that.”
“He renegotiated NAFTA and you didn’t is the point,” Tapper pressed.
“Because we had a Republican Congress that wouldn’t go along with us renegotiating,” Biden protested.
“Doesn’t he deserve some credit for that?” Tapper asked. “It’s better, USMCA is better than NAFTA.”
“It is better than NAFTA,” Biden acknowledged. “But look what the overall trade policy has done even with NAFTA? We now have this gigantic deficit in trade with Mexico. Not because NAFTA wasn’t made better, because overall trade policy and how he deals with it made everything worse.”
“I’m a blue-collar guy sitting in Macomb County Michigan,” Tapper responded, assuming the persona of a Michigan voter. “I’m sitting here listening to your pitch and I’m thinking I like what he has to sell but he’s part of the establishment selling my jobs down the river. He supported NAFTA, he supported Most Favored Nation for China and Trump didn’t renegotiate NAFTA and Obama and Biden didn’t.”
“I’ll tell you what we did do. We inherited the greatest recession short of a depression,” Biden pointed out. “The president put me in charge of that to do something about it. In charge of that, I was the one given the responsibility to make sure General Motors and Chrysler didn’t go bankrupt, made sure they didn’t. Brought 80,000 jobs here to Michigan and to the automobile industry. 80,000 good paying jobs came back. He’s lost 50,000 of those jobs since he’s been president.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
