Donald Trump criticizes Hillary Clinton for waffling on free trade, TPP

PITTSBURGH, June 28 (UPI) -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivered a prepared speech on trade in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, criticizing rival Hillary Clinton for inconsistencies on the issue.

Trump said he would scrap the Trans Pacific Partnership, a free trade deal between the United States and several Asian nations. He was critical of Clinton's back-and-forth history on the deal, which she advocated for as secretary of state, but now says she would not sign in its current form.

"TPP would be the death blow for American manufacturing," Trump said, according to his prepared remarks. "It should be no surprise then that Hillary Clinton, according to Bloomberg, took a 'leading part in drafting the Trans-Pacific Partnership.' She praised or pushed the TPP on 45 separate occasions, and even called it the 'gold standard.'

"Hillary Clinton was totally for the TPP just a short while ago, but when she saw my stance, which is totally against, she was shamed into saying she would be against it too -- but have no doubt, she will immediately approve it if it is put before her, guaranteed. She will do this just as she has betrayed American workers for Wall Street throughout her career."

Trump is also pledging to renegotiate existing trade deals, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, to more favorable terms for the United States and if other nations refuse, he said he will look to remove the United States from the deals.

Trump also said he would order his commerce secretary to begin identifying foreign countries that are violating the terms of trade deals and will seek to end those practices.

CNN reports Trump's speech, entitled "Declaring American Economic Independence" is at a raw material factory, Aumisource, outside Pittsburgh, in the heart of the Rust Belt, a region hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs.