Without endorsing TPP, some things to consider about it.

[True Blue Door]

13. In other words, we're falling behind China in trade with SE Asia.

Nothing prevents China from taking additional steps, but nothing prevents us from taking still further ones. That's what a competition is. If your solution is just not to play and have the United States become economically isolationist, I just can't agree.

Of course there are downsides. Downsides happen when you balance the interests of diverse parties. What I am not persuaded of, one way or the other, that there is anything inherently wrong with pursuing a Trans-Pacific Partnership. I am not a Hooverist where trade is concerned.

I would have written the history of trade deals differently, but progress can only be made by moving in the right direction from where we are, not making demands that partner negotiators would dismiss out of hand.

As for human trafficking, it's fine to try including provisions related to that, but given that's a region- (and world-) wide problem, I don't see how the failure to introduce such language is a showstopper to other potential advantages.

YES, rising 4 places in the HDI rankings over 15 years is definitely a major accomplishment for a nation of over a billion people whose grandparents starved to death by the tens of millions and whose parents rode bicycles to work on collective farms.

And while the post to which you link makes sound points - addressing China will definitely require dealing with its currency manipulation, for instance, which we are aggressively pursuing through WTO actions - it seems to forget its own premise by mentioning that China has cheap labor and raw materials. That's the whole point!

We built them up into a country whose cheap labor and raw materials could be reliably exploited, thus attracting capital, but before that they were unattractive for many reasons. Working to advance Vietnam and Malaysia in a similar way can reduce some of the regional advantages we gave to China. Which, even if it doesn't necessarily help us directly (which is why I'm not endorsing TPP at this point), certainly weakens the ability of China to hurt us.