(10/11/2015) The TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) that was finally agreed among trade negotiators of 12 Pacific countries on October 5 came as a triumph over long odds. Tremendous political obstacles, domestic and international, had to be overcome over the last five years. Now each country has to decide whether to ratify the agreement.
(6/17/2015) In recent op-eds and blog-posts I have argued that prospective trade agreements like the TPP (the Trans Pacific Partnership) would be economically beneficial for reasons similar to past trade agreements and that they would have geopolitical benefits too. I have also opposed adding currency manipulation to the trade negotiations.
I am far from alone. Support for giving the White House Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is shared by most economists, including 14 former chairs of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers. But we supporters have not sufficiently responded to the most common arguments of the critics of the TPA process: a perceived abandonment of democracy and transparency.
(6/13/2015) President Obama is still pressing the difficult campaign to obtain Trade Promotion Authority and use it to conclude international negotiations — across one ocean for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and then across the other ocean for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Many in the Congress, particularly many Democrats, insist that the trade agreements must include mechanisms designed to prevent countries from manipulating their currencies for unfair advantage.