In preview of prime-time speech, Chris Collins blasts U.S. trade deals

On the second day of the Republican National Convention, themed “Make America Work Again,” Rep. Chris Collins told the New York delegation that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump would work to reverse the damage caused by free trade deals.

Collins, who often points to his opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership and other trade deals, telling the crowd gather for a New York breakfast event that “free trade is not fair trade.”

“The frustration in America is palpable,” Collins said. “We know what people say. We know our jobs were stolen, stolen, by China and Mexico. They didn’t get them the proper way, through hard work and fair competition.”

Collins, who will second Trump’s nomination for the Republican candidate at the convention Tuesday evening, also pointed to his early endorsement of Trump, saying he will be able to take his business experience into the White House.

“We need a chief executive, not a career politician,” Collins said.

Collins spent considerable time in his speech attacking the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, referring to her as “the liar and “the perjurer.”

The Western New York congressman accused Clinton, and Democrats in general, of seeking to curtail constitutional rights, with their desire to introduce new gun control laws and repeal the U.S> Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

“These Washington elites say, “We know better than the American public,’” Collins said.

Lastly, Collins urged fellow members of the delegation to stay united behind the candidate, a nod to Monday’s chaos on the convention floor when some delegates tried to force a vote on changing the convention rules, which threw the proceedings into chaos as delegates shouted during a voice vote.

“Right now they’re saying 80 percent of Republicans support Donald Trump,” Collins said. “We need it to be 100 percent.”