Who's Bribing Whom?

New Balance is renewing its opposition to the far-reaching Pacific Rim trade deal, saying the Obama administration reneged on a promise to give the sneaker maker a fair shot at military business if it stopped bad-mouthing the agreement.

  Boston Globe

So how is that not a problem in itself? Didn't they have a "fair shot at military business" simply by virtue of being an American company?

[T]he Boston company had gone quiet last year. New Balance officials say one big reason is that they were told the Department of Defense would give them serious consideration for a contract to outfit recruits with athletic shoes.

Fair shot? Serious consideration? Is the government wrangling business contracts for TPP support?

New Balance officials say the Pentagon is intentionally delaying any purchase.

I don't know...It kind of looks like a two-way street to me.  Is this a government buying silence or is this a company extorting the government?    "You give us the business or we mess up your deal." Maybe we should ask Denny Hastert.

New Balance is reviving its fight against the trade deal, which would, in part, gradually phase out tariffs on shoes made in Vietnam. A loss of those tariffs, the company says, would make imports cheaper and jeopardize its factory jobs in New England.

[...]

“We swallowed the poison pill that is TPP so we could have a chance to bid on these contracts,” said Matt "LeBretton, New Balance’s vice president of public affairs. “We were assured this would be a top-down approach at the Department of Defense if we agreed to either support or remain neutral on TPP.

Yeah, I'm kind of having a hard time feeling sorry for them. They're playing an unsavory game.

Though most of the company’s shoes are made overseas, domestic manufacturing is a big priority for owner Jim Davis, a longtime Republican donor.

Is that not a contradiction?  (The first part.  Not the Republican donor part.  That makes perfect sense.)

The problem, according to the Department of Defense, is that none of the three New Balance shoes offered for consideration met the agency’s cost requirements and one didn’t meet durability standards.

The administration portrays the delay as quality and cost control. But New Balance sees it as foot-dragging, and as reason enough to revive its fight against the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to have some more convincing.  Smells a little like mob protection racket to me from this report.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.