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Why Did Japan Just Ratify The TPP? (businesstimes.com.sg)
The controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership can't go into effect without U.S. approval, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has acknowledged. Yet despite president-elect Trump's promise to withdraw from the agreement -- Friday Japan's parliament voted to approve it. An anonymous reader quotes the Business Times.
Was last Friday's vote simply a Quixotic tribute to a dying cause or -- as some are asking -- does Mr. Abe know something that others don't? They note that he is the only foreign leader to have met with the anointed heir to the U.S. presidency since the election result was announced. What went on in New York's Trump Tower during that "informal" meeting is unknown but some speculate that there may have been some equally informal -- but nonetheless significant -- dealmaking between the two men on the TPP. This seems quite possible, analysts say, because the TPP is of great importance to Japan and to Mr. Abe's grand design for Japan to remain a pivotal Asia-Pacific power.
The EFF has decried "the intense push to ram Internet issues into international law through the TPP," and complained Friday that Japan's newly-passed law "includes the extension of Japan's copyright term from 50 to 70 years after the death of the author, which makes today a very sad day for Japan's public domain."
And in addition, "There remains a risk that other TPP countries such as Singapore -- and even countries that weren't part of the original deal, such as Taiwan -- will soon also bring their domestic legislation into conformity with the requirements of this dead agreement."
The EFF has decried "the intense push to ram Internet issues into international law through the TPP," and complained Friday that Japan's newly-passed law "includes the extension of Japan's copyright term from 50 to 70 years after the death of the author, which makes today a very sad day for Japan's public domain."
And in addition, "There remains a risk that other TPP countries such as Singapore -- and even countries that weren't part of the original deal, such as Taiwan -- will soon also bring their domestic legislation into conformity with the requirements of this dead agreement."
Our completely-unaccountable-to-voters State Department is still trying to get TPP to pass despite the political environment changing around them. Japan ratified because they want a good relationship with the people who will still be in charge when Trump takes office.
More realistically, Trump is playing another con game. While he seems to prefer to produce his clothing in Mexico(which is why a tariff is not likely to happen), the building material for his developments still overwhelming come from Asia. Even Congress when given an opportunity to establish that we use only US materials to build using US tax dollars was unwilling to impose that restriction. Furthermore, his daughter depends on Asia to produce her goods.
So what we know is anything that streamlines trade with Asia makes Trump rich, and anything that makes it harder makes him less rich. Now, Trump may want to renegotiate the deal on specific points that do not benefit his company, so it makes sense that he would be talking about not ratifying the deal as a negotiating tactic.
But if you want to know what will happen, look in the news about how the supply chain for US manufacturers is world wide, how any disruption with Asia would raise prices and cost jobs, and the number of Goldman Sachs former executives in his cabinet.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
You actually believed Trump when he said that? How dumb are you?
Maybe we should wait until his ASS ACTUALLY HITS THE CHAIR IN THE FUCKING OVAL OFFICE BEFORE WHINING ABOUT HIM BREAKING HIS PROMISES.
Unless you plan to do that anyway, no matter what, in which case have the common fucking decency to at least PRETEND you're waiting to see what he does. In my day we did our oppo research by breaking into places and jimmying file cabinets open - in the dark, because flashlights would get you Watergated! Now you kids just "hack into something." Or send some DUMBASS an email that says "gib login pls" and Bob's yer uncle!
GET OFF MY LAWN!
There's your problem right there. Actually believing anything that comes out of Trump's mouth. He's broken numerous campaign promises and he's not even in office yet.
Yeah. We totally should have elected the warm, charismatic leader that has our best interests at heart.
Hillary lost. Get over it.
The only person who has said they "do not believe" the intelligence is Trump himself.
And the FBI. Which reported a very different set of conclusions.
Regardless, what is it you think happened? Voting machines got hacked or something? What happened was some leaked email. The only reason that had any impact on the election was because it showed how corrupt the Clinton machine and the DNC are. That might have been the last straw for some people not interested in voting for Hillary anyway, but it didn't cause the complete blow-out of all of those state legislative seats, the governorships, both houses of congress, etc. The Russians didn't have any meaningful impact at all. Hillary was a terrible candidate who lied at every turn and heaped scorn on the people she said she wanted to lead. And people across the country were sick of it. California and NY were taken for granted by Clinton, and those states did indeed step up and do their obedient liberal duty. But lots of other liberal-centric places refused to take the Hillary bait, and defected or stayed home. If you think that was about the Russians, you're delusional. Yes, the CIA's right - the Russians definitely had a preference for who they wanted to see win. Just like the British government did. And the Italians. And China. And the government of Canada. So what?
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
He's flip-flopped on all kinds of stuff already
Sure, he's flipped on a lot of issues, but opposition to free trade, along with restricting immigration, were his two big signature issues. If he flips on those, then he stands for absolutely nothing.
Disclaimer: As someone who didn't vote for him, I have been happy to see all his flipping to positions that actually make sense, and I would be even happier if he flips on these as well. But his supporters would rightfully feel betrayed.
I'm guessing you live in Japan like me, so just wanted to point out for anyone interested that this is pretty much dead on. I would like to point out that it's neglecting the immensely positive push it got from car and electronics companies. If the TPP passed as-is Japanese cars and electronics could easily take over the US market place and would likely decimate the US domestic market. Really it would have been great for Japan, which is why I personally wanted it to pass, but the honest truth is as Trump points out it was an abysmal deal for the US. Personally I hope they just renegotiate it.
Ah, the new and exciting world of post-truth, where all you need is an opinion and an inflated ego. It worked for Trump, so it must work for everybody else.
It is obvious why they do this: They want the TPP to work, and they are sending a political signal, not least to Trump. but also to other, interested parties in the region. Basically, what they say is: "We want closer cooperation - ideally with the US, but we might get this to work without." I haven't studied the details (or even the headlines, tbh) of the TPP, but given the internet, easy travel, trans-national corporations etc, globalisation is a fact, and if the US want to isolate themselves, the rest of the world will go on without. You may point to Brexit, but the take-away point here is that UK is in no way talking about isolationism - quite the opposite, in fact: they want to become more international than they felt they were able to in EU (I don't agree with Brexit, but that's beside the point). Globalisation will happen with you or to you; I think it is better to take active part in the processes and see if you can influence them in your favour. By refusing to be part of it and sulking in a corner, all you achieve is to be left out of influence.
but the honest truth is as Trump points out it was an abysmal deal for the US
The negative impact on the US auto industry really misses the point, protectionism is almost always to the detriment of the country as a whole. Under the deal the Japanese agricultural industry suffers, but all Japanese people get cheaper food. It's a net benefit to Japan, even though it has a negative impact on that specific industry. At the same time the US agricultural industry gains from this.
Likewise: under the deal the US auto industry suffers, but all Americans get cheaper cars. Since almost all Americans drive, it's a net benefit to the US. And, at the same time, the Japanese auto industry gains from this. Exactly the same situation as above.
Third thing: the copyright stuff is being handled in the opposite way - favor the industry over the whole population. This is why people protest it, but it's easy to see why the politicians do it this way. The loss to industry is easy to quantify, even if they do give ridiculously inflated numbers, but the monetary benefit of shorter copyright terms is very hard to measure. You're trying to estimate the value of all of the works which could exist but don't, thanks to copyright. So politicians favor the safer option, ignoring all of the non-monetary value of the potential works that they're stifling, and go with copyright protectionism.
He'd throw the U.S. under bus if it suited his purpose.
What the hell do you think the fucking democrats were doing? Don't be an idiot fanboy. Trump is no worse
And the parts of the TPP that were bad were the intellectual property bits - and the bit about letting multinational corporations bypass local rules. Trump gave no indication that he's opposed to those things. In fact, his 'winning is everything' ethic might actually favor them.
The parts of the TTP that were good - yes there were some, and that's where Hillary's 'gold standard' quote came from - had to do with environmental and labor standards that previous trade deals had not included or made enforceable. That plus the prospect of serving as a counterweight to China in the region. On those issues, Trump probably either doesn't care - or doesn't know enough to have an opinion.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...