4 ms·
Obama was quietly working on the TPP. It or something like it would probably have been the better strategy to check Chinese power and put us on a path to decou
by asdf123wtf 6y ago
Obama was quietly working on the TPP. It or something like it would probably have been the better strategy to check Chinese power and put us on a path to decouple from them, while boosting friendly allies in their orbit.
Trump pulled out of the deal and decided to do a trade war instead.
- LegitShady 6y agoThe TPP would simply have incentivized more manufacturing to leave the west for other asian countries. You got a trade war because there was finally a US president willing to risk confrontation like the chinese are, who started calling out chinese practices like dumping steel in canada to kill the US steel industry. A year ago people said trump was crazy for talking about chinese steel dumped in canada as a national security issue. Then you couldnt get n95 masks and the world realized things run out if you dont produce them and someone else makes them. The trade war is a positive - the US-China relationship needs redefining. If you look at chinese influence campaings the chinese are well aware of US efforts to deal with orbitting allies and is pushing their own influence. Your ideas would have worked 15 years ago, maybe.
- asdf123wtf 6y ago> The TPP would simply have incentivized more manufacturing to leave the west for other asian countries. It would have incentivized manufacturing to leave China, along with a large share of all the western dollars currently feeding the regime. Trump's strategy doesn't really seem to decouple us from China so much as it seems to invert the relationship.