Trump Is China's Chump - Thomas L. Friedman

[DonViejo]

HONG KONG — Having just traveled to New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, China, Taiwan and now Hong Kong, I can say without an ounce of exaggeration that more than a few Asia-Pacific business and political leaders have taken President Trump’s measure and concluded that — far from being a savvy negotiator — he’s a sucker who’s shrinking U.S. influence in this region and helping make China great again.

These investors, trade experts and government officials are still stunned by an event that got next to no attention in the U.S. but was an earthquake out here — and a gift that will keep on giving America’s allies pain and China gain for years to come. That was Trump’s decision to tear up the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade deal in his first week in office — clearly without having read it or understanding its vast geo-economic implications.

(Trump was so ignorant about TPP that when he was asked about it in a campaign debate in November 2015 he suggested that China was part of it, which it very much is not.)

Trump simply threw away the single most valuable tool America had for shaping the geo-economic future of the region our way and for pressuring China to open its markets. Trump is now trying to negotiate trade openings with China alone — as opposed to negotiating with China as the head of a 12-nation TPP trading bloc that was based on U.S. values and interests and that controlled 40 percent of the global economy.

It is hard to think of anything more stupid. And China’s trade hard-liners are surely laughing in their sleeves.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/28/opinion/trump-china-asia-pacific-trade-tpp.html

[greymattermom]

1. The TPP

was probably not great for Ivanka's shoes and other products. I'll be that Trump dumped the TPP to help his family businesses.

[MBS]

2. I really liked this article.

I don't always agree with Friedman, but I agree with him here.
Trump really is a fool, and every international leader knows it.
His ignorance, laziness, selfishness, narcissism, and utter lack of moral compass are risks to our national security.

Pres. Obama and Sec. Kerry were right in pointing out that if we didn't set the trading terms among Pacific nations (via TPP), China would. And, sure enough, here we are.

TPP wasn't perfect, but it was an improvement on NAFTA, and -as we will learn soon enough- much better than no agreement at all. Plus, as the article mentions, the agreement reflects years of painstaking negotiations; many nations worked very hard, and agreed to several compromises, to make this happen. In addition to the economic damage we risk by this move, our walking away after years of negotiations damages our credibility with our allies, too.

I've been dismayed by the knee-jerk reaction/rejection of TPP by both progressives and conservatives.

[Iplayoneontv]

3. Of course

This started immediately after he was elected. Everyone I spoke to that lives in Asia started talking about Asian trading and how Trump meant they could get around America.