Fact check: Trump is right on Clinton’s TPP flip-flop

During the first presidential debate on Monday evening, Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of changing her position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton face off during the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York on September 26, 2016. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

“And now you want to approve Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Trump said during remarks on trade. “You were totally in favor of it, then you heard what I was saying - how bad it is - and you said, I can’t win that debate. But you know that if you did win, you would approve that, and that will be almost as bad as NAFTA. Nothing will ever top NAFTA.”

Clinton replied that Trump’s charge was “just not accurate.”

“I was against it once it was finally negotiated and the terms were laid out,” she said.

“You called it the gold standard,” Trump interjected. “You said it’s the finest deal you’ve ever seen.”

“I know you live in your own reality, but that is not the facts,” Clinton replied. “The facts are that I did say I hoped it would be a good deal, but when it was negotiated, which I was not responsible for, I concluded it wasn’t.”

Clinton did, in fact, refer to the Trans-Pacific Partnership as “the gold standard in trade agreements” during remarks in Australia as secretary of state in 2012:

"This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field. And when negotiated, this agreement will cover 40 percent of the world's total trade and build in strong protections for workers and the environment."

Politifact has also reported on Clinton’s various positions on TPP.

President Barack Obama has expressed support for the deal, while Clinton has been critical of it in recent days.

Watch below:

.@HillaryClinton to @realDonaldTrump on TPP: "I know you live in your own reality, but that is not the facts." https://t.co/vJQA0JdAne

— ABC News (@ABC) September 27, 2016

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