During the 2016 presidential primaries, I found myself in a San Francisco park talking to guy who — apart from selling marijuana — was eager to convince people not to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade agreement among the United States and other mostly advanced economies. For all his sincerity — his backpack was adorned with anti-TPP and Bernie Sanders pins — his rationale was vague, driven by a suspicion of large corporations and a general sense that trade deals gave them unfair advantages.
The encounter demonstrates how emotional an issue the TPP was. Both populist candidates — Sanders and the eventual victor, Donald Trump — thunderously denounced it, and even Hillary Clinton reversed her stance and rejected it. The agreement became a sort of lightning rod for all the trade-related grievances that had been building up in the U.S. for decades. Trump's campaign channeled memories of the 1980s, when Japanese and German automakers and electronics manufacturers outcompeted U.S. national champions. More recent memories of the China shock — the devastation of U.S. manufacturing jobs by Chinese competition — were also fresh in Americans' minds. Those of us who argued in favor of the agreement were thin, small voices shouting in the wilderness.
So it's no surprise that one of Trump's first actions after his inauguration was to withdraw from the TPP. But now, more than a year afterwards, a few voices of reason are starting to suggest that the U.S. reconsider. One is Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who recently said that Trump is open to rejoining the TPP.
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