Big Report, Little Finding: The ITC Evaluates the Economic Impact of the TPP

Jared Bernstein Former Obama administration economist; CNBC and MSNBC contributor

A huge amount of political steam has been blasted by  Sanders and Trump in an effort to to pin the  TPP trade pact as an albatross around the necks of Hillary and Obama> The essence of this hot air has bene that the TPP will grease the track of exporting US jobs to Asia.

Jared Bernstein sums up the recent exhaustive report on the TPP.   The bottom line is that TPP is not likely to have much effect on US jobs, either off shoring what si already left of manufacturing or even creating new jobs here.

So, why even have the TPP?  The answer is that the TPP is a treaty that ties together all the trading nations of the Pacific basin with two exceptions … China and Russia. Viewed as geopolitics, TPP gives the US a chance to create trade networks that block these two imperialist powers from creating a hegemony over our Pacific neighbors.

The real issue for politicians should not be the minimal effect in trade but the opportunity to invest in America in ways that strengthen us as the leader of the TPP nations. Example include infrastructure … roads, trains, internet, airports that strengthen our export advantages … especially important if we are too compete with China as partner for the developing nations of SE Asia.  Other exmpales include rebuilding our industrial unions and stegthning American opportunists for post secondary education.

Read Bernstein and the original report for more.