HRC was critical of TPP before it was cool

[Jim Lane]

66. Nice to see you're finally (albeit implicitly) conceding the "gold standard" quotation.

You've refused to do even that much for several days, and just in this thread you strongly implied that anyone asserting that Clinton had called the TPP "the gold standard" was a tool of the right-wing media. So, congratulations, you're making (very slow) progress toward addressing the real world instead of a Clinton-can-do-no-wrong bubble.

Now, as to your quotation -- I can't imagine why you boldfaced the 40% passage. That's been undisputed from the beginning.

Then you write:

So are you saying that ALL trade agreements are automatically bad for the US? They are only good for the rest of the country, but bad for the United States? Do you advocate just making it illegal for US corps to sell or buy anything outside the United States?

My answers: No, no, and no, and I'll add that nothing I've written comes close to raising any serious suspicion that I might hold the extreme positions you ask me about. Putting question marks at the end of your unsubstantiated ravings makes them only marginally less ridiculous.

I've written about the TPP. We know more about TPP than about TTIP, but there are strong similarities and I will probably go along with most people in treating them the same. (Some people will support both and some will oppose both; few will be split.)

Have there been trade agreements that were good for the U.S.? Absolutely. The most obvious example is the reduction in tariffs that occurred after the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 were seen to have done great harm. Higher U.S. tariffs prompted retaliatory tariff increases by other countries. Putting an end to that trade war (through various bilateral and multilateral agreements) benefited everyone.

As numerous commentators have pointed out, though, tariffs are generally much lower today than they were before FDR took office. There's not all that much scope for promoting trade through tariff reduction. As a result, although the TPP has some provisions relating to tariffs, most of it is about non-tariff matters. Those are the provisions that have raised the most concern.