Posted on 11/12/2015 5:44:52 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Donald Trump lambasted the Trans-Pacific Partnership at Tuesday night's Republican presidential debate, contending that China would use it to "take advantage of everyone"--generating snickers from journalists and a withering refutation from Rand Paul, who said "we might want to point out that China is not part of this deal."
But Trump never suggested that China was part of the TPP, only that the country would "come in, as they always do, through the back door" of the agreement. And he was right.
The TPP does indeed allow China and other non-members to reap benefits from the deal without having to abide by any of its terms.
Here's how it works: TPP and other free trade deals allow signatories to exchange goods without tariffs. But we live in a complicated world, with source materials derived from one country often traveling through a supply chain to another and completed in a third before moving to a retail market.
To cope with this, TPP adds a "rule of origin" chapter to determine whether an amalgamated good qualifies for tariff-free status. This is particularly important in Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam or Malaysia, which get a significant amount of production materials from China.
TPP says that all materials that go into a good, outside of a de minimis 10 percent, must derive from TPP countries. However, there are numerous exceptions and exemptions, along with a confusing set of calculations to determine eligibility. Through these cracks in the agreement, as Trump alluded, China can deliver goods to TPP countries without tariffs.
Right now, the U.S. reserves the right to slap large tariffs on China, as it has done on steel (up to 236 percent), solar panels (up to 78 percent) and tires (up to 88 percent). But under TPP...
(Excerpt) Read more at theintercept.com ...
I don’t really trust Trump and am supporting Cruz - but in this case I agree with Trump and disagree with Cruz.
Ham head Rove and the WSJ are being stupid about this. BS’ing to their readers that Trump was wrong. And that dingbat Paul being an idiot during the debate who poorly listened.
Trump gets to and should slam, in the next debate, little RaPaul, the Wall Street Morons, Dopey Karl Rove, Fox’s Krautnutham and the rest, by reviewing TPP and in particular the point he made in the last debate who thought Trump got it wrong.
Not to mention several Trump haters here that I corrected in a previous thread.
Not that I saw.
If I didn’t know better Trump may bait these Morons with subtle traps they seem to fall for. LoL.
Cavuto feeling bad for him didn’t want to embarrass Kasich even more. In the exchange with Cruz both didn’t mention depositors are covered by insurance. Kasich is the big idiot though as he said that all the poor depositors would lose their savings. Dingbat.
Bump for Trump!!
“Conservative” Becks claims homo “marriage” is a “civil right”.
I like listening to The Blaze when he’s not on it, especially Dana Loetz. I keep flipping the channels if I spot the airhead Beck.
It’s over 5000 pages. Has anyone actually read it?
All of it? Some wonkish wonk somewhere maybe.
As big as this bill is who knows what all is in it. That’s the latest Commie trick to nullify the Constitutional process of government.
I really wonder if Trump is playing a “reaganesque gambit”
Playing dumb while holding all the cards...
Regan could turn on the every-man simplistic appeal while chess mastering behind the scenes. That is one of the reasons the left keep insisting he was a dumb buffoon, when anyone who knew him personally and saw his personal library know otherwise from the dog eared and annotated copies of deep philosophical and economic literature books he kept.
Rand Paul also tossed him a life preserver in the form of ... but I agree with Donald Trump, within the same 30 seconds.
It was a tactical remark, something Trump will be vulnerable to from sitting or ex-senators and other professional politicians. But I expect Trump to learn very quickly.
No on can accuse Trump of being dumb.
We never should have had Congress & prez who are completely lacking in any real economic expertise make these laws. Or as Trump said, do them one at a time where even the dummies in Congress can grasp it.
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