The latest issue of NR includes an article of mine on the politics of trade, an article that has now been put on our homepage. While writing it I came across a largely like-minded article by Daniel Drezner, which also notes that public opinion shows no sign of having turned against trade. I think Drezner is wrong, though, to suggest that Paul Ryan is hedging his bets on trade now that he has endorsed Trump. He writes, “I’ve been dubious about TPP’s chances in Congress for a while. And it’s certainly interesting–and by ‘interesting,’ I mean, ‘humiliating to his free-trade intellectual position’–to see how House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) reacted to Trump’s protectionist cri de coeur Wednesday.” He then links to a video of a CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer.
Here’s what Ryan said when Blitzer asked Ryan if he agreed with Trump about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP):
I think TPP has got to get worked out to be better. I think it potentially has great promise, but I do believe the administration screwed up a number of key things in TPP. I don’t think it is ready to go. I don’t think it is ready to pass. I think the administration made some critical mistakes in negotiating this trade agreement, but I do hope we can get a good one. I do hope we can get a change this agreement to make it a world-class agreement. He says he wants great trade agreements. I also want great trade agreements that are good for America. But what’s at stake here is whether or not America writes the rules of the global economy with our allies, or other countries like China, who do not share our values, whether they write the rules of the global economy. That’s what at stake here. But the key here, Wolf, is get it right. And so far the administration has not done that.
That’s actually more positive than what Ryan said about TPP in February on Fox News (well before he endorsed Trump). Then he said that the votes aren’t there and that it’s a flawed agreement, but omitted the case for a good deal that lets America help write the rules of the global economy. On that occasion he went into specifics about the sticking points. Among the issues he mentioned: The financial industry wants to make sure cross-border data flows are freed up, and opposes a provision of the TPP that gets in the way of that; some lawmakers want other countries to have to provide longer patents for biologics. Whether or not one agrees with these views, Ryan isn’t backing away from free trade. He’s just engaging in some of the normal wrangling over the details of complicated trade agreements.
Trade and Paul Ryan