TPP, TTIP, TISA Venn Diagram

Source.

I’m unfamiliar with the website, but I like the Venn diagram.

ObamaTrade Explained

“President Obama Forcing the Unholy Trinity on America” by Jordan Bailey, over at EIC.

NAFTA is usually cited as the quintessential “free trade” agreement. It tore open our borders and allowed unfair competition with labor rates below $4 an hour, something U.S. manufacturers can’t compete with. It turned over our sovereignty to unelected tribunals. It has initiated a race to the bottom, not just for wages, but for standards, too.

This is just the beginning of what President Obama wants to foist on the U.S.

And to put the trade issue into historical perspective: After WWII, the US had the only major intact industrial economy. This gave the US a great deal of power, and it has since squandered that advantage, putting Wall Street profit over American interests.

The US has overspent, underinvested.

The free traders (managed trade) who say we don’t understand trade are looking at the matter from a global perspective. They imagine Asia will always play by the rules, never exploit an advantage. Protectionists are looking at trade from a national perspective. Note: Asia is already protectionist.

In a society, you have those who work and those who enjoy leisure time from the backs of those who work. Those who achieve success strive to build moats, to protect their advantage. And the same can said for global interactions in an increasingly globalised world.

America should want investment to flow to the US, should want the best jobs to flow to the US. America should want to be at the cutting edge of manufacturing, other technology, productivity gains, so that Americans can enjoy higher wages, more leisure.

Other polities can provide America resources.

The current trend is for America to eventually provide resources to Asia. Someone is going to sit on top. It might as well be us. Life is hard for those on the bottom.

One needn’t be overlarge to enjoy an advantage, either. Singapore has a very high level of development, not only banking, and a high standard of living as a result.

Trump Is Declared Correct on Trade Deal, Not Rand & WSJ

Kevin L. Kearns reports from AEA:

However, Mr. Trump’s key points in response to Baker were: (1) that China could enter the agreement “through the back door,” which means that they are not an original or “front door” party to the agreement, and (2) that China’s currency manipulation has proven to be a big problem for U.S. manufacturing businesses, which neither the Bush II or Obama administrations have addressed successfully.

Rather than being the ignoramus that the Journal claims him to be, Mr. Trump is in fact correct on both points. The TPP is a “dockable agreement,” which means that, in the future, any country wanting to join the final deal can do so if it agrees to the full terms. Beijing has already expressed interest in joining the TPP, and recently, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry actually went on record to invite both China and Russia into the fold.

Trump is also correct that the TPP lacks any enforceable provisions on currency manipulation (such as sanctions that would actually punish violators), as opposed to the TPP requirements for reporting on currency and meetings to discuss manipulation. In emphasizing this glaring omission, Mr. Trump focused on potential member China as an example but his remarks covered the free pass currently being given to known TPP manipulators such as Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia, and other potential TPP member-manipulators, such as Korea and Taiwan.

Rand Paul, who was either unable to follow Trump’s line of argument, or is fine with currency manipulation, interrupted to explain that China isn’t part of the deal. Ok, thanks, Rand, but Donald never said it was. And Trump is correct that China’s currency malfeasance has cost the U.S. dearly in terms of displaced factories and jobs, foregone wealth creation, loss of market share both at home and abroad, and diminishing power and influence.

Rand has likely been smoking too much of the weed he wants legalised. I’m sick of the media manufacturing Trump comments into mistakes when they absolutely are not.

One of the few Trump positions I dislike is his call to take foreign oil. Small disagreements such as this (not this specifically) have actually led EIC into treason against its purported mission of trade. EIC owes Trump an apology. Partisans need to see the big picture; Let’s not sweat the small stuff.

Pat Buchanan on TPP

Pat gets it, as usual. Trade matters to the GOP base.

“They’re 100 percent behind these trade deals, because it frees up these corporations to move their factories abroad, their plants abroad, and send their goods back to the United States free of charge,” he said. “So, the de-industrialization of America is to the benefit of these corporations, because they can produce far more cheaply outside the United States than they can here.”