At long last, 11-member Pacific trade deal takes effect

[karynnj]

66. Obama and many in his administration, including John Kerry explained TTP

and advocated for it at the point where they got the vote to "fast track" legislation. I think that things became trickier in 2016 when the Democratic nominee unambiguously changed her position - from it being the gold standard to being against it. Obama administration people continued to back it and explain it -- but they did so at think tanks. Example - https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/secretary-state-john-kerry-makes-the-case-for-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp These talks would be heard by Senators, Congressmen and their staffs, but would be low key enough not to generate articles speaking about the disagreement between the popular President Obama and nominee Clinton.

Since Trump pulled out, Kerry has made a good point -- if Trump really was the best deal maker as he has claimed, he could have gone to the other countries and demanded some specific changes -- and he likely would have won on at least some. (However, Trump has used many TPP improvements on NAFTA in his new US, Canada and Mexico agreement.)

One good thing about the other countries taking this live is that when we win in 2020, a Democratic President could propose the US joining it. We will still have lost because we were not there now. Some contracts that we lose now will never be regained if the other provider keeps the consumers happy.