In shift, Toomey says he'll oppose international trade deal
WASHINGTON -- In a stark reversal, Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) said Wednesday he will oppose a major international trade deal whose prospects he once hailed, changing course as he faces a tough reelection and simmering voter anger against such pacts.
Toomey, a staunch free-market conservative, has promoted the benefits of international trade and voted last year for a measure seen as crucial to completing the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 Pacific Rim nations.
But in an op-ed published Wednesday, Toomey said the details of the deal fall short of his hopes.
"Good deals require good negotiations," he wrote in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. But he said this agreement would not protect innovations by state pharmaceutical companies or open up markets to the state's dairy farmers. "The Obama administration has not gotten a good enough deal for Pennsylvania workers."
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