Pelosi embraces tough questions about Obama’s trade agenda

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

TUESDAY, MAR 17, 2015 05:30 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s bid for a new trade deal didn’t get easier Tuesday when the House’s top Democrat said her caucus embraces a dozen demands that may be tough to meet.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has always walked a careful line on trade. She is close to many liberals who strongly oppose new trade pacts. But she often talks of finding “a path to yes,” and notes that John F. Kennedy called Democrats “the party of free trade.”

After House Democrats privately discussed trade Tuesday, a reporter asked Pelosi if the caucus backs 12 proposals, or demands, issued earlier by Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, who has challenged the administration on several fronts.

“Generally, I would say yes,” Pelosi said. Some Democrats will have other questions, she said, but Levin’s eight-page list is “a solid block of concerns that members have.” The more tightly Pelosi links herself to Levin on trade, the more worrisome it is for those seeking a new 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. Those supporters include Obama and many business groups and Republicans that historically support free-trade agreements.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2015/03/17/pelosi_embraces_tough_questions_about_obamas_trade_agenda/