In Jan 2017, I said quitting TPP ceded Asia-Pacific to China. But I didn't think it would get this bad this quickly. Since then, Trump made South Korea and Japan worry US isn't a reliable partner, and started trade wars with allies. Geopolitical disaster.https://arcdigital.media/by-quitting-the-trans-pacific-partnership-trump-cedes-asia-pacific-to-china-f63514a783ac …
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Economically, I thought TPP would be a net benefit to the US, but some criticisms had merit. All trade agreements create losers within countries as well as winners. But geopolitically? It was great. A long-term peaceful containment strategy against China.
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Trump flipped the script. Instead of America leading effort to contain China, countries are banding together to contain the United States. 11 other TPP countries moving forward with the pact. None willing to sign bilateral deal with US, despite Trump's efforts.
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The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership would include 16 countries. Along with China, there's Australia, Japan, South Korea, India. Those are important US partners. Or at least they were. With economies tied to China, not US, they'll increasingly fall into China's orbit.
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Xi knows how much economic influence means for geopolitical influence. (Unlike Trump, he's not ignorant of post-WWII history). That explains his ambitious Belt-Road Initiative. And why he's pursuing a trade pact with 15 other Asian and Oceanic countries.
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If you wanted to contain and rollback US power, you'd aim to weaken America's ties to Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico (all in TPP), South Korea, India (in discussions for China's new trade pact), and Europe. The worst part of this geopolitical disaster? It's self-inflicted (END)
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This is absolutely devastating news. I don't think Americans can fully grasp how bad this development is. Looking over who is in the pact makes it seem even more ominous for us. Good times ahead

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The worst is probably India. China's natural rival for 21st century power in Asia, and America's natural partner for containing China.
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Hard to think
@realDonaldTrump is not taking orders from a guy who has the#PeeTape -
I'm skeptical of that in general, but especially in this case. In a way it's comforting to think he's doing it because of personal blackmail. Simple explanation. But on starting trade wars and alienating allies, he really seems to think it's a good idea. That's more complicated.
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Thank you for this! RT'ed
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You're welcome. And thanks for sharing.
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Patience. Trump will make beautiful bilateral trade deals with those Pac-12 countries.
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This reminds me of the scene with Denzel in Training day about king Kong. Still, I think you're being a little too doom and gloom
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Long-time powerful person ranting about how powerful he is in front of a crowd that no longer respects that power? Not a bad analogy. As for doom and gloom, I didn't say this'll cause WWIII or we're all going to die. Just that the US is unnecessarily giving away a lot of power.
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I agree with you. I just want to believe that there is a strategy behind this craziness
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Another thing is that Trump didn't resort to tariffs from the get go. Administrations have been trying for years and nothing gets done. Blaming Trump is just gaslighting for keeping the status quo.
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You write like the US has equal trade and Trump is rocking the boat. The EU charges like 5 times more tariff for autos. China like 10 times. Something like that. I hoped that some real friends would step forward and be fairer, but looks like that don't want to change.
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Another thing you are missing is that if Trump doesn't treat everyone the same too, other countries skirt the system and it become a waste of time. At the end of the day, wouldn't real allies agree to more reciprocal trade? What is wrong with holding allies accountable?
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