Clinton's Time Out on Trade

Racheting up the populist rhetoric, Hillary Clinton has been talking about a time out on trade deals. I find this odd given that her policy positions usually have some subtlety to them. First, she just voted for the Peru deal, as did Barack Obama. So why the timeout now? Why not a few months ago when she voted to ratify that important deal. Second, why not look at each individual deal on the merits rather than declare some wholesale moratorium? After all, a number of deals are coming down the pike including important ones with Colombia which is in a politically precarious situation and would urgently like to close the deal with the U.S. and, more importantly, South Korea which would be the biggest bilateral deal since the NAFTA accords more than a decade ago. There's reason to question both deals. Democrats are concerned about trade union rights in Colombia, for instance. But why not examine each deal on the merits and make a decision rather than have a wholesale moratorium? I suspect the moratorium is a way of sounding Edwardsesque on trade in general while still being, at heart, someone who wants to forge good international deals. But why lock yourself in?

I note, as always, that my wife works for Clinton.