Arguments for TPP don’t make sense

[cali]

No country in Asia wants to choose between political allegiance to the United States and economic alignment with China. Nor can any country in the region be forced into such a choice. Efforts by Washington to do so create a zero-sum game with zero appeal.

The debacle that followed recent US efforts to oppose the Chinese-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB, is a case in point. The more Washington sought to prevent other nations from joining the AIIB, the more they questioned US leadership. In the end, they effectively repudiated it. There is an important lesson in that.

Apparently unperturbed, the president and his top officials are now going for a repeat performance. They are promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, trade agreement as a bulwark against rising Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific region. In his 2015 State of the Union address, and again in a recent interview, President Obama declaimed: “If we don’t write the rules, China will write the rules out in that region.”

<snip>

So TPP is about geopolitical influence, not about economics — even butchered economics. (Far from being carved up, Asian-Pacific markets are coalescing, and US firms have been and remain among the drivers of this process of integration.) Somehow — it’s not explained how — persuading Asians to adopt the intellectual property practices favored by Hollywood, BigPharma, and patent-trolling American lawyers will keep China at bay. Really?

In the end, trade agreements need to be justified in terms of their economic impact much more than by the putative political leverage they may provide. The two operative questions are: Will the TPP improve American competitiveness and/or create jobs in the United States? What US economic problems does it fix?

<snip>

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/05/30/arguments-for-tpp-don-make-sense/W8WNu5IR9xkhzsqYV0pBWK/story.html#

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

[jeff47]

2. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to pretend it's either the TPP or isolationism. (nt)

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. Or war. Opposing allowing slavery-permitting nations to join the TPP is tantamount to wanting war.

Or so I have been informed.

[Elwood P Dowd]

7. All who oppose are racists. They have a long list of lies they use to justify fake free trade deals.

[truedelphi]

3. Thank you for such a valuable discussion. n/t

[cali]

6. I thought this was a particularly interesting and

informative piece

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. When all else fails, erect a bogeyman and talk about National Security.

If we don't stop China with the TPP we'll all be playing ping-pong, eating Chow Mein for breakfast, and learning Mandarin.

[MisterP]

9. that was in an 1880 racist novel! "The Republic had fought its last battle; and the Imperial Dragon

of China already floated from the dome of the Capitol"
https://archive.org/details/lastdaysofrepubl02doon

[mmonk]

8. No they don't but it's all about presentation, wordsmithing, and media promotion.

The average American is just getting through the day and doesn't understand the growing income divide.

[Enthusiast]

10. We have had quite enough of these anti-American trade deals.

Just say NO! to the TPP.

[Scuba]

11. Yeah, "just trust the President" doesn't cut it for me.