Anti-Trump ‘Farmers for Free Trade’ Favors Job-Killing Trans-Pacific Partnership

An organization running a massive multi-million dollar ad campaign against President Trump’s pro-American worker tariffs is run by a former Democrat Senator and negotiator for the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal.

Most recently, the group “Farmers for Free Trade” has launched an $800,000 print, radio, and television ad campaign called “Tariffs Hurt the Heartland” that bills itself as a grassroots effort for free trade deals and against the use of tariffs.

The free trade advocacy group, as Breitbart News has learned, is run by a slew of Democrat operatives with connections to the Obama administration — which advocated for the massive TPP free trade deal that would have cost the U.S. likely close to 500,000 jobs.

The group’s executive director, Brian Kuehl, is a former staffer for Democrat Sen. Max Baucus, who also serves as the group’s co-chair. 

Earlier this year, Baucus said on Montana Public Radio that Trump’s “America First” policy motto when it comes to trade “is not going to work.” 

“Those countries now are wondering, where’s America? Does America care about us over here? And the signal is, meh, probably not,” Baucus said. “And China is stepping in and filling the void. So, my point here is: You’ve got to get involved. It’s tough. You’ve got to negotiate fairly but strongly. Protect yourself. And go out in the world. ‘America First’ policy is not going to work.” 

Baucus was also one of the key architects of Obamacare, President Obama’s nationalized healthcare program that has driven healthcare costs up for working and middle-class Americans. At the time, Baucus admitted he had not read the healthcare bill before supporting it. 

Also a part of the organization is Darci Vetter, who worked for the Obama administration and led the negotiations of the TPP free trade deal. TPP was eliminated by Trump as he opposed the plan on the grounds that it would have furthered offshoring of American jobs to foreign countries like Malaysia and Vietnam, where workers earn slave wages. 

Former Obama staffer Matt McAlvanah runs the communications wing of Farmers for Free Trade. McAlvanah previously worked for Democrat Sen. Patty Murray and pushed fiercely for the job-killing TPP deal to be approved before Obama left office. 

In 2016, McAlvanah blamed Trump for Republicans in Congress not voting to approve TPP, saying “Congressional leaders appear to be making a political decision to walk away. That’s about Donald Trump and nothing else.” 

Altogether, Democrat operatives with ties to the free trade advocacy group have raised an estimated $20,600 for Democrats, including failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO). 

Similarly, the group “Republicans for Free Trade” has claimed to be a grassroots organization of GOP voters who support free trade deals. A Breitbart News report exposed that the group is run by “Never Trump” neoconservative pundits Bill Kristol and Mona Charen.