Why Sanders' praise of Trump over TPP is so dangerous

[DanTex]

47. That's arguable. There were some legitimately bad things about TPP.

Problem is, the actual problems with TPP weren't what Trump was attacking it for, and for that matter, neither was Bernie. The big lie, from both, is that TPP was going to be a "job killer".

The main benefit of TPP was expansion of US economic and geopolitical influence in Asia. This is good not just for the US, but also for Asia, because the other alternative is is that the region comes to be dominated by China, which has much less regard for labor and human rights than we do.

But there were downsides. The excessive corporate power in ISDS was a legitimate concern, though overblown by a lot of commentators. Another issue was the IP provisions, but from the "only America matters" perspective that a lot of anti-trade people adopt, this wouldn't actually be relevant, because the victims would be poor people in foreign countries that would have to pay higher prices for prescription drugs.

I think both the pro- and anti- sides of TPP can be credibly argued. The question is whether the geopolitical effects and the economic benefits from trade barrier reductions (which weren't very big, since tariffs with most TPP countries are already low) outweigh the downsides.

It's a close call IMO.