Interesting article on NAFTA and TPP

[homersapien 12,226]

I didn't know how interconnected these agreements were.

While fully recognizing the "devil is in the details", I generally support "free trade" as manifested in multilateral trade agreements.  I think agreements like NAFTA - and even more so, TPP - are important to the U.S. from a geo-political standpoint as well as an economic one.  The abandonment of TPP in particular has the potential to cede dominance in the Pacific arena to China.

Politically speaking, this puts me in the "free trade" camp of more traditional Republicanism than it would the "populist" protectionists camp traditionally represented by Democrats.

Frankly, I don't know what to make of the Trump embrace of populist trade policies, other than it worries me.  I find it rather hard to believe that the Republican party has reversed it's philosophy on trade.  I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes the wedge between Trump and (whatever remains of) Republican party.

 

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/trump-tpp-free-trade-deal-obama-renegotiate-nafta-214874

The Trade Deal We Just Threw Overboard

Donald Trump wants to rewrite NAFTA, but someone else already did. Here’s how it went down.