R.I.P., TPP

Trump’s move hurts city’s future.

The Port of Houston is accustomed to doing things backward.

Original dredging of the Ship Channel was celebrated by a reverse-themed “No-Tsu-Oh” (spell it backward) Deep-Water Jubilee, complete with a King Retaw I. The occasion even attracted the attention of President Woodrow Wilson, who formally opened the channel by firing a cannon via telegram from Washington.

Now, more than a century later, Houston boosters must again feel the dizzying sensation of a world running in reverse.

On Monday, President Donald Trump formally withdrew our nation from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This decision is a radical departure from decades of bipartisan policy — not to mention utterly contrary to the Republican Party’s mantra of free markets.

Houston business leaders can be excused for feeling queasy. That 12-nation, free-trade treaty sat at the core of our city’s long-term economic agenda. The Houston metropolitan area stands as the top exporter in the nation. Exports support roughly 1 million jobs across the state, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

If the TPP had passed, 40 percent of the world’s economy would have dropped its barriers to the Texas cattle and crops, and oil and gas, that flow through our port. The treaty would have strengthened Houston’s ties with a rising Asian market and solidified our position at the global economic center.

Cattle ranchers were particularly excited about selling beef to Japan. Sorry, cowboys.

Instead, Trump has decided to undermine Houston’s future as part of some vague promise to help the Rust Belt. He might as well fire that presidential cannon at a container ship or two.

Protectionism will only weaken U.S. industry, shielding our goods from competition and allowing manufacturers to get away with mediocrity. Consumers will face higher prices, less money will churn through the economy, growth will turn stagnant. And no tariff can protect workers from robotic replacements.

Policies that actually help workers, such as infrastructure investments and labor protections, should not go ignored at the White House.

Consider this part of Trump’s retreat. The United States spent the bulk of the 20th century building a global network of trade and rules-based institutions — with our dual-shored nation conveniently at the center. Now we have a president who willingly runs from that powerful responsibility.

But nature abhors a vacuum, and China has already started to fill the gaps that Trump is opening in the global order. Chinese President Xi Jinping even spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in defense of free trade and international stability. That’s usually the U.S. role.

Things really are backward.