Obama Admits Defeat; Pacific Rim Trade Deal Trump Opposed Is Dead

"... these deals only weaken ..."

by Jack Davis November 11, 2016 at 5:36pm

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, repeatedly denounced during the campaign by President-elect Donald Trump, is dead.

The Obama administration has admitted that it will not pursue its Pacific Rim trade deal, which President Barack Obama had wanted as part of his legacy, during the lame-duck session of Congress that will convene in December.

The 12-nation agreement already faced a rocky road in Congress, but Trump’s election sealed its fate.

“I am going to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” Trump said in June as part of his denunciation of existing trade agreements. “I am going to tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to negotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal — by a lot, not just a little, by a lot — for our workers.”

The development is a massive turnaround in a short span of time.

Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman expressed optimism that the administration and congressional Republican leaders could reach agreement on disputed parts of the deal.

“We have worked closely with Congress to resolve outstanding issues and are ready to move forward, but this is a legislative process and it’s up to congressional leaders as to whether and when this moves forward,” said Matt McAlvanah, a spokesman for the office of the U.S. trade representative.

However, after meeting with Trump on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the demise of TPP a foregone conclusion.
“It’s certainly not going to be brought up this year,” McConnell said.

McConnell said any decisions on trade agreements would be up to Trump, who has called the agreement a “disaster” and “a rape of our country.”

Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Alexander Gray touched on Trump’s reasoning in a guest column published in Foreign Policy magazine.

“Trump will never again sacrifice the U.S. economy on the altar of foreign policy by entering into bad trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, allowing China into the World Trade Organization, and passing the proposed TPP,” they wrote.

“These deals only weaken our manufacturing base and ability to defend ourselves and our allies,” the writers added.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/oba...posed-is-dead/