re: #294 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

We need to rethink global trade: it does not benefit American workers, and whatever slight benefits our consumers gain, remember, that our consumers need to earn money before spending it…

I’m going to have to disagree that broadly-defined “global trade” doesn’t benefit American workers: I’m sure that the workers at Boeing are extremely happy to be able to export their aircraft beyond the American market. TPP faced a lot of resistance in Japan due to fears that American rice growers would flood the local market.

NAFTA is a very specific case: Mexico is physically adjacent to us with good transportation links and lower wages. These conditions are not replicated for TPP countries (except in so far as Mexico is one); I suppose all the companies might threaten to run out and move their factories to Malaysia, but that seems like rather a larger step. Post-US-in-TPP we are either going to see a collapse of the agreement with China picking up the pieces, or a somewhat weird Japan-led version of the bloc which will be … interesting.

I have to admit I have a somewhat contrary view of “global trade.” IMO being willing to trade with the poorer countries of the world is the single greatest humanitarian act the US has ever engaged in, far eclipsing any development aid we have ever given. Should we have managed the domestic impact better? Indeed. (And it could have been done.) But from a global perspective, it’s been a great thing. Almost by definition, a poor country is going to have lower wages and looser employment laws (and so did we a century ago, ahem), but to refuse to trade with them for that reason is to guarantee it’s not going to get any better.