MSNBC "The Ed Show" -Transcript: Trans Pacific Partnership

Interview

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For more, let me bring in Senator Bernie Sanders, presidential candidate
and also in the United States Senate from Vermont. Senator, good to have
you with us tonight.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Welcome.

SCHULTZ: I want your reaction, Senator, to Nike will create 10,000 more
jobs if they can just get the TTP. What do you make of that?

SANDERS: Well, these are the kinds of promises we hear every single time,
these guys want a trade agreement. Frankly, I don`t believe it.

But given the fact that they have as he just indicated something like a
million workers all over the world, given the fact that today we`re not
producing one Nike piece of shoe or sneaker in this country. I think we
have reason to be very doubtful about what they`re trying to do.

Look Ed. I was very disappointed about the president said today. The idea
that we`re going to be engaged on an equal footing a level playing field,
you`re not on the level playing field when people make $0.50 an hour in
Vietnam. That is not a level playing field. It is not a level playing
field when you have a state invest or agreement which allows corporations
to sue governments when they`re trying to protect the health and
environment of their communities.

This is a continuation of disastrous trade agreements. In 1970, 25 percent
of the manufacturing, 25 percent of the jobs in this country were
manufacturing. Today, it`s 9 percent since 2001, we`ve lost almost 60,000
factories and trade is one of the reasons for that.

So enough is enough, we need a trade agreement not supported by corporate
America, Wall Street, the drug companies but supported by the needs of
working people in this country.

SCHULTZ: Senator, do you know what rules the President is talking about
that are different in this trade agreement as opposed to the one with South
Korea, or the Central American, or NAFTA. What rules is the President talk
about because he never gets specifics in any sense of the word. He never
gets to the devil on the details. It`s a lot of lofty generic talks that
this is going to be great and the rules are different and if we let China
write the rules then of course we`re going too lose. What about that?

SANDERS: Well, I think what is taking about our trade enforcement rules
regarding labor rights, regarding environmental -- the environment as well.
But the reality is, we have had similar type enforcement language in
previous agreements which really have an amounted to a whole lot.

Ed, I think what is very clear to me. Phil Knight who was the CEO of Nike
is worth some $22 billion. He pays workers all over the world $0.50 an
hour, $0.60 an hour. That is the business model these guys like, this is
what corporate America like, this is what the big money interest likes.

And it does suddenly that we have a President who`s standing with all of
the big money guys against the organized labor, against the environmental
community and he is telling some of us in the progressive movement that we
don`t get it.

Well, I think we get it just fine. I think, unfortunately, he doesn`t get
it.

SCHULTZ: You`ve been very clear on this, Senator. Do you think that you
have been more clear than Hillary Clinton on this? And is this a campaign
issue?

I mean, it would seem to me, Senator, that this goes right to the fabric of
everything that you have stood for and everything that you have advocated
for. That this is a prime example of what American can`t do if we`re going
to economically go in the right place and create more jobs.

SANDERS: Ed, look, if you look at what`s been happening in this country in
the last 40 years, what you`re seeing is a disappearing middle class.
You`re seeing people working longer hours for low wages. You`re seeing, as
I said a moment ago, the lost of tens of thousands of factories and you`re
seeing massive income and wealth inequality. All of that is related to
trade.

So I think, any serious candidate has got to be upfront and say, "Do you
support a continuation of disastrous trade policies, or do you want a new
policy of trade which works for American workers and not just the CEOs of
large corporations. This is a huge issue.

My record is pretty clear on that and Secretary Clinton and the other
candidate, is got to have to tell us which side they`re on. This is one,
you can`t waffle, either for this TPP or against it. I am vehemently
against it.

SCHULTZ: OK. Does it surprise you that President Obama is in campaign
mode with this? That administration officials are putting pressure on some
environmental group saying, "Hey, we were with you on the climate change,
you got to give us this one".

I mean, this is some real backdoor arm twisting that`s going on. Why is he
doing this?

SANDERS: It`s going on in -- well, you know, he is doubling down. He is a
free trader. I believe, he has, you know, he has been in that for many,
many years and he wants to win this thing. But I would hope, you know,
that he understands that all have of his natural allies, every union in
this country, virtually all of the environmental community.

Millions of millions of working people all over this country are saying we
do not want more of these disastrous trade agreements. And here he is now,
lining up with all of the big money interest, Chamber of Commerce, National
Association of Manufacturers, pharmaceutical industry, Wall Street, all of
the big money guys around his side and he is telling us that we are wrong
on this issue. He is on the side of the worker on this issue. We are not.

Well, I, respectfully, disagree.

SCHULTZ: Senator and presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders with us tonight
in the Ed Show. Senator, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

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