Using the NAFTA disaster as fuel for his policies regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Trump wants to strip the TPP down to the deck and renegotiate. How might his plan make our foreign financial policy great again?
Donald Trump has not minced words over his opinion of the Obama administration’s championing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Trump calls the deal a disaster and warns that it will encourage American companies to gut their labor forces, sending, even more, jobs overseas.
“The TPP deal is going to be a complete disaster,” Trump said at the Freedom Summit in South Carolina. “They don’t say anything about the practice of currency manipulation,” he said. “That’s the tool that so many other countries use to get an advantage over us.”
The candidate has gone to some lengths to stress that the TPP will encourage American corporations to relocate their production processes abroad, further weakening the already struggling US domestic job market.
“The leaders we have now are incompetent. They’re like babies,” Trump added. “Most nations have zero respect for us.”
The TPP free trade agreement currently on the table deals with 12 countries, with the US in the lead position. Other major countries involved include Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Peru. If the deal is finally approved, it will include a list of nations that represent over 40% of the global gross domestic product.
The agreement, however, has been fiercely attacked from many sources, for reasons not limited to the glaring lack of transparency during the negotiation process. The meetings were all held in closed sessions between the president and foreign leaders, and Obama gave precious few details after the meetings had finished.
Anyone interested in learning what the provisions of the deal will do have to read the hundreds and hundreds of pages of extremely jargon-rich literature that were released after the meetings. Few without an advanced degree in international trade law could understand it.
Most of the published documents were kept secret and were only finally disclosed by the anti-secrecy hacking group WikiLeaks. They are still working to disclose as much of the TPP agreement as they can before it is finally adopted.
One of the more recently released portions of the TPP document has revealed that companies would apparently be allowed to take legal action in the countries they operate in through private courts, thereby skirting national jurisdictions.
TPP supporters claim the deal would create entirely new markets for existing and future American products. Critics counter this saying that environmental protections, currency manipulation, and Internet privacy would all be grossly mishandled under the provisions of the TPP. One of the most common arguments against the TPP treaty is Americans will not benefit, and that domestic jobs will be cut.
Some of what we know the TPP would do includes:
- Reduce trade barriers between the nations involved through lowered tariffs and coordinated regulations
- Provide stronger protections to drug manufacturers, increasing copyright protection terms, giving foreign investors new avenues to challenge foreign law
- The authorization of “fast-track” authority for Obama, which means Congress will either promptly approve or disapprove the TPP agreement that Obama has negotiated- ie no amendments or filibuster actions will be heard or allowed. A vote is expected in 2016.
- The entire TPP deal was negotiated behind closed doors and in secret before it was released to the public.Among Trump’s greatest concerns about the TPP are the benefits China would enjoy. China, Trump claims, has been on the receiving end of the poor negotiating skills of our foreign financial policy leaders for many years.
The republican candidate has been telling reporters and audiences for months that China is a major offender when it comes to currency manipulation, that they are frequently threatening to switch to the gold standard and invariably back out just as speculation drives market conditions to their favor.
But this isn’t all Trump has in store for China- who have even threatened the US with war if he is elected. Many have speculated that if Trump becomes president, he will reveal that some of our leaders have intentionally sold out US interests to China and have been taking bribes, gifts, and other favors for doing so.
The candidate is yet holding his cards close to his chest on this issue, but many believe that he will deliver a killing blow to many US officials who may be declared enemies of the state if their real negotiating tactics are revealed.
Regards,
Ethan Warrick
Editor
Wealth Authority
