• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Trump’s Trade Pullout (TPP) Roils Rural America (Politico)

I still can't understand how Trump couldn't see how effective the TPP was going to be in controlling China. Or he did see and was bought off. There was little to any down side for US industry given the current state of it.

The effects of the TPP were neither here or there for Trump. It played well to rural Americans because trade is hard and confusing. The TPP going down is a shining example of why I fear populism in general.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
I always found it funny seeing Americans arguing against TPP which would have been maybe the best deal possible for US. I understand other countries criticising it, but Americans? Ridiculous.
 

Jarmel

Banned
I always found it funny seeing Americans arguing against TPP which would have been maybe the best deal possible for US. I understand other countries criticising it, but Americans? Ridiculous.

As an American, I don't want a lot of our policies spreading over to Europe.
 

Zeus Molecules

illegal immigrants are stealing our air
Nothing Trump does will help people and very few things will even be successful. These next few years are going to be rough
 

Shauni

Member
I still can't understand how Trump couldn't see how effective the TPP was going to be in controlling China. Or he did see and was bought off. There was little to any down side for US industry given the current state of it.

Trump doesn't know shit about any of this.
 

Xando

Member
I'm not going to lose any sleep over the TPP failing.
Nothing to lose sleep over. Just another step in the decline of american hegemony.
The effects of the TPP were neither here or there for Trump. It played well to rural Americans because trade is hard and confusing. The TPP going down is a shining example of why I fear populism in general.
Yeah you can see this everywhere populism leads. If you look at Brexit a reason for them to leave the EU was to make their own trade deals (Ironically by leaving one of the most influential trading blocs on earth) and get stomped by large countries.

Since Trump FTAs have actually become more popular here in the EU and they've closed to large deals in the past year(Canada and Japan).
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
As an American, I don't want a lot of our policies spreading over to Europe.

Your policies are spread all over the world with or without TPP. Ask anybody in the financial or fiscal world. Well, hopefully Trump will take care of that in the sense that he will fuck any bit of influence US has over the world.
 
I still can't understand how Trump couldn't see how effective the TPP was going to be in controlling China. Or he did see and was bought off. There was little to any down side for US industry given the current state of it.

Obama was for it, Trump was against. Simple as that. He doesn't have long term plans, only what will benefit him in the political sphere
 

Jotaka

Member
siz76df.gif
 

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Stay dead TPP.

Well, tell us something we did not know.

If it leads to the downfall of the US, you are probably for it.

That, and Saint Sanders was for it, which was probably reason enough.

Your policies are spread all over the world with or without TPP. Ask anybody in the financial or fiscal world. Well, hopefully Trump will take care of that in the sense that he will fuck any bit of influence US has over the world.

Or, you could be like KingSnake and just come out and say it.
 

Slayven

Member
Send a mad man out on the world stage and be shocked if people turn elsewhere. American exports are going to take a hammering the next few years. One of the most dangerous things that can happen to america is going to happen, the rest of the world figuring out they don't really need us.
 
The copyright, pharmaceutical and ceding of national power to corporations were full stop provisions for anyone who actually read the documents as they released. I for one am not a fan of letting corporations sue governments for denying them business opportunities, third world countries paying US drug prices or the awful US intellectual property system becoming the global standard.

I agree. That said Obama put the country first big-time to other nations chagrin...while still working with them. Master negotiator.
 
So that's not voting in their best interests then, right? I'm confused.
Hehe Im not sure if im actually unclear or IF you think my stance is stupid (or maybe both).

I see a political system with two dominating parties and no matter which of these parties that has been in power the same trend with rural and working class americans have been falling behind. Im not saying that both parties are the same or just as bad. But they have been unable, or unwilling (they might see it as impossible) to change the trajectory.

Having this group of people supporting anti establishment candidates in larger numbers doesnt seem like a surprise. Even though Trump is a far worse candidate also för their material interests.
 
Well Hilary would have canned TPP anyway.

You want to blame somebody, blame Obama who adopted an economic policy that's about 10 year too late (in countering against China's economic weight).
 

Mael

Member
As European, that's the very reason I was against the TPP and kinda hoped that the US was stupid enough to pull out of it.
Thank god it happened, God knows our farmers need any help they can get.
Everything in that deal sucked from my perspective, it's literally awesome the thing fell through.

Send a mad man out on the world stage and be shocked if people turn elsewhere. American exports are going to take a hammering the next few years. One of the most dangerous things that can happen to america is going to happen, the rest of the world figuring out they don't really need us.

Seriously this is a glorious time and an opportunity of a lifetime!
It's always like this, a bad US president is great for the EU and vice versa.
That was true for Clinton as well as Bushes.
It's still true for Obama and Trump.
 
You can thank Sanders for that.
You can?

The only person who even attempted to make an argument in favor of free trade the whole election was John Kasich and during the debates he actually did a pretty good job of it.

Hillary should have just accepted the fact that nobody on earth believed she was against free trade and honestly made an attempt to sell it and the TPP. It made no sense to break from Obama with it. You can blame Sanders all you want for exciting anti-trade sentiment on the left but the person who actually got the nomination did nothing but contribute to it. And not just her; the party in general did a horrible job of communicating why TPP was a good thing and why they were pushing it. You can't exactly complain that anti trade sentiments gain traction when literally NONE of your elected officials are doing anything to convince people otherwise
 

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
You can?

The only person who even attempted to make an argument in favor of free trade the whole election was John Kasich and during the debates he actually did a pretty good job of it.

Hillary should have just accepted the fact that nobody on earth believed she was against free trade and honestly made an attempt to sell it and the TPP. It made no sense to break from Obama with it. You can blame Sanders all you want for exciting anti-trade sentiment on the left but the person who actually got the nomination did nothing but contribute to it. And not just her; the party in general did a horrible job of communicating why TPP was a good thing and why they were pushing it. You can't exactly complain that anti trade sentiments gain traction when literally NONE of your elected officials are doing anything to convince people otherwise

It's far more difficult to explain why Free Trade is good, than to just say it's bad.
Sanders is most to blame about the situation.

Of course, this is just referring to Free Trade talk in the Dem party, I don't think Clinton's position on Free Trade did not affect the outcome in any appreciable way.
 

Mael

Member
You can?

The only person who even attempted to make an argument in favor of free trade the whole election was John Kasich and during the debates he actually did a pretty good job of it.

Hillary should have just accepted the fact that nobody on earth believed she was against free trade and honestly made an attempt to sell it and the TPP. It made no sense to break from Obama with it. You can blame Sanders all you want for exciting anti-trade sentiment on the left but the person who actually got the nomination did nothing but contribute to it. And not just her; the party in general did a horrible job of communicating why TPP was a good thing and why they were pushing it. You can't exactly complain that anti trade sentiments gain traction when literally NONE of your elected officials are doing anything to convince people otherwise

The whole reason people justified Sanders's run was to push Clinton to the left.
That actually happened so you can't then turn around and say that Clinton would have changed that part of her policies on her own.
 

gcubed

Member
You can?

The only person who even attempted to make an argument in favor of free trade the whole election was John Kasich and during the debates he actually did a pretty good job of it.

Hillary should have just accepted the fact that nobody on earth believed she was against free trade and honestly made an attempt to sell it and the TPP. It made no sense to break from Obama with it. You can blame Sanders all you want for exciting anti-trade sentiment on the left but the person who actually got the nomination did nothing but contribute to it. And not just her; the party in general did a horrible job of communicating why TPP was a good thing and why they were pushing it. You can't exactly complain that anti trade sentiments gain traction when literally NONE of your elected officials are doing anything to convince people otherwise

I agree to some extent, but you are appealing to people who can't think out of a paper bag, so coming with nuanced arguments about free trade is not something you can sell to a group shouting "No TPP" but having no idea what TPP is.

I do agree that no one believed her so it was a dumb position to take.
 
You can?

The only person who even attempted to make an argument in favor of free trade the whole election was John Kasich and during the debates he actually did a pretty good job of it.

Hillary should have just accepted the fact that nobody on earth believed she was against free trade and honestly made an attempt to sell it and the TPP. It made no sense to break from Obama with it. You can blame Sanders all you want for exciting anti-trade sentiment on the left but the person who actually got the nomination did nothing but contribute to it. And not just her; the party in general did a horrible job of communicating why TPP was a good thing and why they were pushing it. You can't exactly complain that anti trade sentiments gain traction when literally NONE of your elected officials are doing anything to convince people otherwise

Nah. No one was listening due to the "faults" of TPP. Republicans hated it because of Obama, and liberals hated it because it gave corporations the power to sue countries over shit like new regulation. There was nothing they could do to massage that over in the public eye. And also, other countries had a bone to pick for their own personal gains as well. There's no way to massage it.
 

Mivey

Member
If "voting in your interest" would have worked in the interest of rural working class people in the US the last decades this problem wouldnt exist.

Increasing class divides and especially geographical ones tend to be devastating.
The issue in the US is that first, (it seems to me that) people are horribly ill-equipped to parse political language and truly understand what policies mean for them. The fact that people there regularly vote against establishing unions in many industries, even while laboring under terribly unfair conditions compared with other western countries, is just one product of that.
The thing that makes it completely hopeless, is the huge factor of influencing politics through unlimited amounts of money. In fact, "money as speech" is essentially a constitutional foundations of US politics for now, thanks to your courts.

So, actually having good representation in state and federal levels, is probably not impossible, but more like the exception to the rule.
 

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Nah. No one was listening due to the "faults" of TPP. Republicans hated it because of Obama, and liberals hated it because it gave corporations the power to sue countries over shit like new regulation. There was nothing they could do to massage that over in the public eye. And also, other countries had a bone to pick for their own personal gains as well. There's no way to massage it.

It gave companies the power to sue over violations to the trade agreement.
 
If you don't let corporations sue governments who fail to live up to the trade agreement that was signed in a neutral court, then how the hell do you enforce any trade agreement?
AFAIK the only one advocating "neutral courts" in agreements like this is the EU, this was in fact one of the big points of contention with the US over TTIP.

The US favors the long standing system originally set up to protect western corporations' investments in the newly freed colonies post WWII. It means the cases are determined by a three lawyer panel, one from each party and an arbiter from the World Bank. And they do not make any formal legal rulings, they just assign a fine to the country in accordance to the losses incurred by the company that filed the suit. For poorer countries these fines can be completely devastating, to the point where enacting positive health (against tobacco companies for example) or environmental reforms becomes very risky in spite of the country wanting/needing them.
 

cakely

Member
This is one of the few instances where Trump's voters are actually being hurt by Trump's policies.

I'd feel for them, but I can't quite reach.
 

Kthulhu

Member
Liberals clinging to the TPP hate was probably one of the most disappointing things to me during the last election.





Please, the disinformation campaign was wide enough that both side of the isle thought this was a good idea. Bernie was just as big of an isolationist and because both candidates clung to this social outcry against TPP, Clinton ended up being against it too.

Fucking stupidy all around.

Not all of the TPP was good.
 

Xando

Member
This is one of the few instances where Trump's voters are actually being hurt by Trump's policies.

I'd feel for them, but I can't quite reach.
There’s more to come.
If Trump really starts to put tariffs on european goods the EU will target primarily agricultural and rural states with counter tariffs if you believe leaked documents.
 
The whole reason people justified Sanders's run was to push Clinton to the left.
That actually happened so you can't then turn around and say that Clinton would have changed that part of her policies on her own.

She had the opportunity to, in the debates as she did with many other subjects, push back and argue why it was a good thing. She debated Bernie on everything and pushed back against much of his far left agenda on basically every other issue but never defended TPP once. I'm not blaming her for not doing that but I also take issue with people saying "Bernie's fault". If it's too hard to counter anti-trade rhetoric, thenTrump would have made her oppose if that's the case even if Sanders chose not to run
 

Raven117

Member
Its so bizarre. The TPP would have been exactly the type of thing that Republicans would have (or should have) supported in the past.
 
It's far more difficult to explain why Free Trade is good, than to just say it's bad.
Sanders is most to blame about the situation.

Of course, this is just referring to Free Trade talk in the Dem party, I don't think Clinton's position on Free Trade did not affect the outcome in any appreciable way.

Sanders really did nothing other than excite anti-trade sentiment that had already been there out of the massive failure of both parties to explain what the trade agreements we have made have been good deals for the country. This goes back decades really. Obama made the same sort of appeals in 2008 as well. If none of our politicians are ready to explain why trade is good I don't see how Sanders is to blame for doing what they essentially all do as well. i.e. Run against it then ignore it/ sign more complicated deals once in office.
 

Piecake

Member
Its so bizarre. The TPP would have been exactly the type of thing that Republicans would have (or should have) supported in the past.

NAFTA destroyed the working-man factory job. If we didn't have that we could have protected our blue collar workers, and we would be privileged to pay 5 times the price to do it.

Getting rid of NAFTA and the TPP is the first step to getting those jobs back (that are never coming back)
 
NAFTA destroyed the working-man factory job. If we didn't have that we could have protected our blue collar workers, and we would be privileged to pay 5 times the price to do it.

Getting rid of NAFTA and the TPP is the first step to getting those jobs back (that are never coming back)

It was China entering the WTO that the great exodus began, granted it was already moving that with way Mexico entering previously and etc. Still yet even more significant is automation.
 

Piecake

Member
It was China entering the WTO that the great exodus began, granted it was already moving that with way Mexico entering previously and etc. Still yet even more significant is automation.

I was being sarcastic, and channeling the idiots who think NAFTA took their job away. And because they think NAFTA took their job away, then they now don't like the TPP because they apparently want the rest of us to massively subsidize their uncompetitive place of work

The only way we are seeing those jobs come back is with massive tariffs, which would mean a huge increase in the prices of manufactured goods for the rest of us.
 

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
AFAIK the only one advocating "neutral courts" in agreements like this is the EU, this was in fact one of the big points of contention with the US over TTIP.

The US favors the long standing system originally set up to protect western corporations' investments in the newly freed colonies post WWII. It means the cases are determined by a three lawyer panel, one from each party and an arbiter from the World Bank. And they do not make any formal legal rulings, they just assign a fine to the country in accordance to the losses incurred by the company that filed the suit. For poorer countries these fines can be completely devastating, to the point where enacting positive health (against tobacco companies for example) or environmental reforms becomes very risky in spite of the country wanting/needing them.

What was the finalized language on that anyways?

Also, kudos for actually typing out an argument that was not talking points.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
If you don't let corporations sue governments who fail to live up to the trade agreement that was signed in a neutral court, then how the hell do you enforce any trade agreement?

You let governments sue other governments, on behalf of the corporations concerned, no?
 

Piecake

Member
You let governments sue other governments, on behalf of the corporations concerned, no?

That seems like it would needlessly create constant conflicts with the other governments and people living in that nation that you are trying to create a good relationship with.

Better to let corporations have the ability to sue and let them take on all (or most) of the ire and negatively that comes with suing a nation.

You also don't have to worry about that nation retaliating in a different way against you that is not prohibited by the treaty.
 

dhlt25

Member
it's hard to argue for free trade when the benefit is not immediately visible and on a bigger picture while the deficit while smaller is hard hitting to a section of the population. I don't think any blue collar worker would be happy with the argument that it would be better for the overall economy in the next 10 years but you will prob lose your job next year
 
Obama never did a good job of publicly explaining why this was a good deal. He would just say the opponents were wrong and leave it at that.
 
Top Bottom