Deal Withdrawal
Withdrew in January 2017
Policy Summary
Throughout Obama’s presidency, he continued to try to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership passed through Congress. As a result of this bill, a free trade deal would be signed by 12 other nations (Canada, Mexico, Australia, Chile, Japan, Vietnam, Peru, etc.) The goal of this bill would be to reduce tariffs for American imports and exports traded with these countries. it would allow for goods to not only move more freely but also cheaply throughout the participating nations. Sadly, Obama was not able to pass it because of a multitude of reasons. Instead of picking up where Obama left off, Trump has completely decided to turn the negotiations on themselves by deciding to withdraw from the TPP. Trump continued to speak about his disapproval of the deal, even calling it a “continuing rape of our country”. The president believes that the TPP hurts American workers and undercuts American companies by giving a very clear advantage to other countries (not placing America first)
Analysis
A plethora of studies have shown that the belief that Trump has about this deal is completely unfounded. According to this report by CNBC “Reducing trade barriers will address the trade slowdown, and approving agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership builds momentum for open trade and investment.” In addition, TPP would have accounted for almost a third of global trade and around 40% of the global gross domestic product. Furthermore, the TPP would have generated global income benefits by 223 billion within a year. A majority of Trump’s complaints about this bill is not putting “America first” even though it is very clear that the globe will benefit from TPP. Although, TPP would have assisted the global community it would also have helped the American economy. A report released by the ITC found that the TPP would have increased the U.S. real income by $57.3 billion, U.S. GDP by $42.7 billion, and created 128,000 jobs. Not only would TPP have strengthened the international community, but it also would have immensely helped the domestic economy by increasing GDP, jobs, and real income in the United States.
Engagement Resources
- Town Hall Project – This project compiles the open-to-the-public events held by state and local representatives. This provides a great opportunity to tell them that this executive order will do more bad than good. You can also dial 1-844-6-RESIST to be redirected to the office of your local member of Congress.
- US Senate – Contact your local representatives to take a stance against this proposed legislation. – https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
- US House of Representatives – Contact your local representatives to take a stance against this proposed legislation – http://www.house.gov/representatives/
This brief was compiled by Vaibhav Kumar. If you have comments or want to add the name of your organization to this brief please contact vaibhav@usresistnews.org.
