Monday, January 23, 2017

Pres. Trump withdraws from TPP with pen and phone

President Trump has made good on a campaign promise and signed an executive order withdrawing the USA from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, better known as TPP.

What is TPP? 

In a nutshell: 
It was signed in February 2016 and is comprised of 12 countries that have a border on the Pacific Ocean. Its purpose is ostensibly to slash tariffs and foster trade. These 12 countries already control 40 percent of the world's trade and have a population of around 800 million. TPP was a plan that hoped to foster closer relationships between TPP countries on regulations and economic policies and was designed to create an EU-type single market.
All 12 nations needed to ratify TPP but with Trump as POTUS, the writing was on the wall. In order for it to have been successful, the US had to be in the deal. Obama was for TPP and Hillary Clinton was for it before she was against it. To take effect, it must be ratified by at least 6 countries that account for 85 percent of the group's economic output.
Opponents to TPP see it as a secretive deal favoring big business and other countries at the expense of American jobs and national sovereignty. 

But since when was Obama interested in national sovereignty?

Even liberals were in large part against it because it would make it easier for companies to sue governments that change policies on such things as education and health providing in favor of state-provided services, sort of like the state as "Big Brother," which was apparently Obama's goal.

Both sides of the aisle saw TPP as intensifying competition between the labor forces of member countries.

Good start with hitting the ground running, Mr. President.



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