Sanders Talks Trade Policy At IPFW

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke to a large crowd at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne on Monday.

He spanned a range of issues, but focused on trade and Carrier Corporation’s decision to leave Indiana for Mexico.

Sanders listed several reasons why he is different from Hillary Clinton, including campaign finance and the war in Iraq, both of which got big responses from the audience.

“Now there’s another area where Sec. Clinton and I have a very different point of view and that is on trade policy,” he says.

The crowd didn’t seem to know how to respond, so he elaborated.

“Now I know that trade policy is not a sexy issue,” Sanders says.

He said trade policies like NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, have affected workers throughout the country and in Indiana, including those laid off from Carrier.

Former Pres. Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law in 1993. Clinton held a rally in Fort Wayne on Saturday on behalf of his wife, and said NAFTA wasn’t the reason Carrier decided to leave.

Sanders says corporations are taking advantage of workers because of policies Hillary Clinton supported.

“Well if you’re concerned about manufacturing, don’t support trade policies that will cost us millions of jobs,” Sanders says.

He also criticized Hillary Clinton for not going far enough in her promise to raise the minimum wage. Sanders emphasized that he would want to bring the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. Clinton supports raising it to $12 per hour.

Indiana’s minimum wage is currently $7.25, the federal minimum.