After following the Administration's rationale for not joining the TPP, I can only conclude that Trump had in mind to establish a competitive trade organization in Asia of his own founding.
That China had done the legwork among Asian countries during years of trading in the region added weight to my surmise.
But the key to verifying this theory is when the Secretary of the Army claimed at a Brookings Institution meeting recently (as I understood him to say) that he would be visiting Asian countries to encourage them to establish trading relations with the US on some on-going basis--a sort of TPP thing.
But this only underscores the basic problem the US has been having in dealing in trade among world leaders the past four years of Trump's Presidency: he doesn't work with other countries, but tells them his proposals, if they are to work with him, instead. The relationship of the US to our Asian friends he has set as leader to follower, not the US as one of trading partners among Asian traders--no matter through WTO or TPP or any organization that Trump may want to form with Asian countries who are willing to accept his offer of becoming a 'partner.'
Indeed, I think he is trying to make his administration an obstacle to trade with China, preferring not to iron out a trade agreement (except in agriculture where our farmers are hurting), so as to strengthen an argument that US companies should stay at home. Yet, just because China has an already thriving trade with other Asian countries, many large American companies are still working with the Chinese government so as take advantage of China's connections for establishing a sound footing in Asia and retaining their Chinese manufacturing operations.
No comments:
Post a Comment