> There is a clause, it was invoked, and mail rates will be going up over the next 5 years. There was no such clause. I read the original agreement years ago

> There is a clause, it was invoked, and mail rates will be going up over the next 5 years. There was no such clause. I read the original agreement years ago when I learned of it. Trump wanted to completely exit the agreement. They fought him. The compromise was the progressive increase in rates you mentioned. Better than nothing, of course. However, the damage has already been done. The businesses they killed with stupid policies such as that agreement and more will never return to the US and Europe. The Chinese got the full benefits and we (I include Europe in this case) will never be able to reverse the damage. This one agreement is almost the foundation of my intense dislike of all politicians and my belief that they are essentially incompetent outside of anything not politics. I get your points regarding everything else. The thing is, the tax code evolved due to the pushing and pulling of politics and is fully of unintended consequences. Call them loopholes if you must, but they, for the most part, reflect the ugliness of the sausage making that politics represents. This is why I think a flat tax system without any deductions, subsidies, etc. might be the best idea in the long run. It's almost the only way to push the proverbial reset button and make decades of the mess that tax law has become go away.