Boosting exports

As he entered office, President Donald Trump failed to recognize the value of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a free trade agreement among 14 Pacific Rim nations that had been negotiated by the Obama administration — as a check against Chinese trade dominance.

Trump, claiming that the deal was a job-stealing giveaway to foreign interests, withdrew the United States from the pact within days of taking office.

A year later, lamenting a major trade imbalance with China, Trump established tariffs that put the two countries on the brink of a trade war that invites recession and will do nothing to thwart Chinese global trade growth.

After the U.S. withdrawal, the remaining TPP partners decided to proceed, calling the pact the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

It includes U.S. allies Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, a market of more than 500 million. With the United States, it would be a market of nearly 850 million including about 40 percent of global commerce.

The agreement includes environmental and labor standards higher than many signatories would achieve on their own, and would eliminate or reduce billions of dollars in tariffs on current U.S. exports to many of those countries.

Trade expansion among compatible markets, rather than trade restriction through job-killing tariffs, is the best route to boost American exports.

Trump should get the United States back in the game. — The Citizens’ Voice, The Associated Press