Reid Breaks with Obama on Trade

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “broke publicly with the White House Wednesday on trade policy, instantly imperiling two major international trade deals and punching a hole in one piece of the economic agenda the president outlined in his State of the Union address a day earlier,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Reid: “I’m against fast track. I think everyone would be well-advised just not to push this right now.”

“The move spells trouble for two sets of complicated talks, one with the European Union and the other with countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Both deals likely would have required such a ‘fast track’ approval to clear the Congress. The U.S.’s negotiating partners wouldn’t likely commit to a final agreement that could be unpopular back home without assurances that it couldn’t be modified by U.S. lawmakers.”