Will oppose Pacific trade pact: Hillary

Hillary Clinton said on Thursday she would defend US interests against China and reject the proposed Pacific trade agreement, as she struck a tough tone on global economic issues.

Clinton was speaking to a crowd in Warren, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, just three days after presidential rival Donald Trump laid out his own economic plan, and she sought to highlight their fundamental differences.

The former secretary of state, leading in national polls with less than three months before the election, also sought to expose the “myth” that New York billionaire Trump would punish the rich and side with working- and middleclass Americans when it comes to economic policy.

“Now, there is a myth out there that he will stick it to the rich and powerful because somehow he’s really on the side of the little guy,” she told the crowd in Warren. “Don’t believe it,” she said. “He would give trillions in tax cuts to big corporations, millionaires and Wall Street money managers,” she added. “That would explode our national debt and eventually lead to massive cuts in priorities like education, health care, and environmental protection.”

Trump’s opposition to trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the North American Free Trade Agreement has become a main policy platform for the real estate tycoon, and he has sought to win support from American workers badly impacted by globalization, painting Clinton as a reckless backer of such agreements.

Clinton said protecting US interests did not require that Americans “cut ourselves off from the world,” but she stressed that she would oppose trade pacts that weaken America’s standing.

“My message to every worker in Michigan and across America is this: I will stop any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” she said.

“I oppose it now, I’ll oppose it after the election, and I’ll oppose it as president.”