Federal Government Policy and Business

Beauty Is In the Eye of the Beholder for Obama's Asian Trade Pact

Foreign Policy: The United States International Trade Commission, or ITC, has released its assessment of the economic benefits of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a massive trade deal between the United States and 11 Pacific nations covering nearly 40 percent of world GDP. It’s proving to be a Rorschach Test on international trade: what you see depends on your perspective.

For those backing the deal — most notably the White House and free-traders — the analysis shows that the trade deal would be beneficial to the U.S. economy. For those opposed to the deal — Republican and Democratic presidential front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, environmental groups, and a large number of lawmakers from both parties — it’s more evidence that the deal isn’t necessary and should be scrapped.

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