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Hillary Clinton Addresses Trans-Pacific Partnership in Iowa

Hillary Clinton on Sunday finally responded to those who have said she has dodged the hot-button issue of international trade.
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Hillary Clinton on Sunday finally responded to those who have said she has dodged the hot-button issue of international trade.

At her first major rally of the campaign trail since her big speech on Saturday, Clinton spoke in Des Moines, Iowa, about what she believes needs to be done in order to reach a deal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and gave a word of advice to the President.

She cited the three criteria for a successful deal: Protect American workers, raise wages and create good jobs at home and be in our national security interest.

"In my time, eight years in the Senate, I voted for some trade agreements and I voted against others," Clinton said. "I think I have a pretty good idea of what we can do to meet the tests."

In order to do that, Clinton said Obama should listen to and work with his allies in Congress, starting with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, about the impact a weak agreement would have on our workers to ensure we get the best and strongest deal possible.

Image: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines
"If you do your part, you ought to be able to get ahead," Hillary said at a campaign event in Des Moines. "And when everyone does their part, America gets ahead too".JIM YOUNG / Reuters

"No President would be a tougher negotiator on behalf of American workers, with trading partners or on Capitol Hill than I would be," Clinton said, adding that the deal has to include trade adjustment authority.

Clinton later told Radio Iowa that she believed "any trade agreement is going to be fraught with all sorts of problems.”

At the rally, she touched on an array of issues from building an inclusive economy and the income gap to clean energy, affordable education and women's reproductive health, and laid out plans for more specific policy proposals in the coming weeks.

The former secretary of state also noted her past experience with world leaders, saying: "I've stood up to adversaries like Putin."

She wrapped up by talking about her confidence in becoming the country's first woman president.

"We need a country where a father can tell his daughter, you can be anything you want," she said. "Even president of the United States."