> There are notable absences (CHINA) that make the treaty effectively meaningless
Don't be fooled by the headlines, the TPP changes "rules of origin" which will reduce US tariffs for Chinese-made auto parts that will now count as "Japanese". This will negatively affect North American auto parts manufacturing, https://theintercept.com/2015/11/11/trump-was-right-about-tp...
"Right now, the U.S. reserves the right to slap large tariffs on China, as it has done on steel (up to 236 percent), solar panels (up to 78 percent) and tires (up to 88 percent). But under TPP, many products, from agriculture to chemicals to plastics to leather seating, can include up to 60 percent of material from a non-TPP country ... China would not have to raise any standards or comply with any TPP rules, yet still be able to produce millions of auto parts and textiles for TPP countries at a lower cost, without the burden of tariffs."
> There are 150 other countries you can go to if you don't like these rules.
Europe has TTIP. China, India and other Asian countries have RCEP. The provisions are similar or worse than TPP. This is a race to the bottom, which is why the first trade agreement (TPP) matters so much. Stop the TPP and it will be easier for countries to push back on TTIP and RCEP. There is also TiSA which spans 50 countries. All of these agreements need to be renegotiated with additional corporate and civil society stakeholders, rather than favoring the small number of corporations that hijacked the TPP for their own purposes.
China regularly interferes with the ability of foreign corporations to compete in a fair Chinese market. Whether through crippling communications infrastructure (the GFW), subsidizing domestic counterparts, or ignoring US IP laws, China had no problem favoring domestic companies over foreign ones.
Yet the US needs an international treaty to authorize itself to slightly increase the fees it charges to China.
(personally I prefer the slow moving democracy of the US)
I read it as the US redirecting 40% of imports to TPP countries. Even if China produces the cheapest widgets, someone buying 100 widgets needs to buy 40 of them elsewhere.
Don't be fooled by the headlines, the TPP changes "rules of origin" which will reduce US tariffs for Chinese-made auto parts that will now count as "Japanese". This will negatively affect North American auto parts manufacturing, https://theintercept.com/2015/11/11/trump-was-right-about-tp...
"Right now, the U.S. reserves the right to slap large tariffs on China, as it has done on steel (up to 236 percent), solar panels (up to 78 percent) and tires (up to 88 percent). But under TPP, many products, from agriculture to chemicals to plastics to leather seating, can include up to 60 percent of material from a non-TPP country ... China would not have to raise any standards or comply with any TPP rules, yet still be able to produce millions of auto parts and textiles for TPP countries at a lower cost, without the burden of tariffs."
> There are 150 other countries you can go to if you don't like these rules.
Europe has TTIP. China, India and other Asian countries have RCEP. The provisions are similar or worse than TPP. This is a race to the bottom, which is why the first trade agreement (TPP) matters so much. Stop the TPP and it will be easier for countries to push back on TTIP and RCEP. There is also TiSA which spans 50 countries. All of these agreements need to be renegotiated with additional corporate and civil society stakeholders, rather than favoring the small number of corporations that hijacked the TPP for their own purposes.