Ever since H. Ross Perot derided the “giant sucking sound” of jobs heading south of the border due to NAFTA in a 1992 presidential debate, NAFTA and other free trade agreements have had a prominent place in the populist pantheon of boogeymen.

Opposition to free trade is a potent emotional issue that is calculated the stoke the fears of those who are teetering on the razor’s edge of economic viability and arguing in favor of free trade is a exercise that requires reason and math. Needless to say, Donald Trump has been a relentless demagogue on the issue of free trade, particularly NAFTA and the TPP. Trump has called NAFTA a disaster and is opposed to the TPP.

Hillary Clinton is in favor of the TPP, her people killed a Sanders effort to make opposition to the TPP part of the Democrat platform.

With a populist tide flowing, Clinton seems willing to cast all of that aside.

BREAKING: United Auto Workers' president says Hillary Clinton told him NAFTA should be renegotiated

— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) July 26, 2016

She wants to “renegotiate” NAFTA, presumably so she can “make a better deal.”

This is little short of stunning.

NAFTA was negotiated by President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton’s husband, and has become a flashpoint in an election year where anti-trade sentiment is running high.

Hillary Clinton has moved to the left on trade during the primaries, also coming out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after expressing support for it as secretary of State. The TPP was negotiated by the Obama administration but has yet to receive a vote in Congress. Like Clinton, Trump opposes the deal.

In 2003, Clinton argued in favor of NAFTA, stating that it will expand exports and create jobs.
…

Clinton’s rhetoric on NAFTA has shifted over the years — something that Obama was quick to point out during their primary battle in 2008.

It is becoming increasingly impossible to tell one of these assclowns from the other. Both are rich, crooked, and incompetent. Both are greedy and rapacious plutocrats. Both hold America and the American people in contempt. Neither cares about anything more than self-aggrandizement and steroidal nepotism. They are both narcissists. They are both reflexive and enthusiastic liars. And now even their policies are merging into one seething, dull gray migraine for the nation no matter who is elected.