President Obama returns from Asia Tuesday, but it’s already clear the signature trade initiative of his administration — the Trans-Pacific Partnership — is in tatters. And New York will be among the biggest losers.
The basics of any trade deal come down to this: to make it easier for people in one country to buy or sell their goods and services to people in another country, and vice versa. Which is also why trade is among the best ways to advance general prosperity and global good will.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership involves the United States and 11 other countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam). Together these nations account for about 40 percent of US trade.
New Yorkers have a particular stake in this deal because our state economy is heavily reliant on trade. Here’s just one measure: The Business Roundtable reckons New York’s total trade with TPP nations supports an estimated 977,100 jobs in the Empire State. An agreement that clears away barriers would mean new customers for New York companies as well as create more jobs at home to support this trade.
So why is it going nowhere? Like all trade agreements, this one is opposed by all the usual suspects: Hollywood starlets, Big Labor, environmentalist groups and demonstrably unenthusiastic Democrats in Congress — led by Harry Reid in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi in the House. On top of this, as President Obama learned during his stop in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has his own local opposition.
But the primary reason this deal is stuck is Obama himself. Though the TPP is meant to raise the bar for global trade talks and underscore a US pivot to Asia, most Americans haven’t even heard of it. That’s largely because the president has made little effort to sell this agreement, one where he in fact has the support of GOP leaders.
If the president truly wants others to sign on to this initiative, he needs first to sign onto it himself.