Just how bad the TPP is - guaranteed profits on EXPECTATIONS of profits

[MFrohike]

94. Sigh

The WTO is a global trade bloc. That's why it has its own schedule of tariffs for every member on just about every conceivable product you can imagine, but it's also why it has a set of rules designed to prohibit activities that get in the way of its overarching mission: the promotion of global trade through minimal tariff barriers. Your claim that it's some clearinghouse for bloc disputes is wrong. It doesn't operate like that at all. Individual blocs do their own policing.

GATT is not the basis for the TPP. GATT stands for General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs. The TPP does not set tariff schedules in the slightest. Why? Tariff levels are already minimal. If you don't believe me, go out and buy a copy of the WTO tariff schedules (I actually own one) and see for yourself. TPP is about harmonizing rules across countries. There's a reason that the promoters of this so-called trade treaty talk about "non-economic" barriers. It's got nothing to do with GATT, nor with historic US trade policy.

The TPP is an infringement of the principles of the WTO because it's designed to favor certain countries over others through disparate application of rules. The entire point of GATT and its successor WTO was to favor no particular country in trade. It was to provide a level playing field for ALL countries, not just those willing to bargain away their citizens' interests in order to stay under the American security umbrella. You do realize that, right? TPP is a hare-brained containment policy aimed at China. Obama's clearly said it many times, when he talks about "China setting the rules." It's no damn different from Woodrow Wilson and "freedom of the seas." Given that the purpose of the WTO is to reduce the likelihood of war and the TPP is aimed at quite a different target, I'd say there's one more reason to view the TPP as an infringement of the principles of the WTO.



Note: I'm not much of a fan of the WTO, either. The rules are effectively arbitrary, due to the appeal process. Even so, it's still better than the TPP. Prudential regulation isn't inhibited under the WTO. No one can seriously say the same about the TPP.