Scott Bessent Wants to Resurrect the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But Does Donald Trump? No.
For Donald Trump to want to resurrect the TPP—to recognize he made a huge mistake back in January 2017—would be possible only if Donald Trump actually had ideas and preferences about policies, which he does not. All he has are “instincts”. Now should I sent this in to Project Syndicate? Or is it just too intemperate a rant, reflective of nothing but my badly unbalanced mental state these days?
Eight years and three months after Donald Trump blew up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and so unilaterally disarmed the United States in the runup to his launching his trade war against China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claims (a) he has the baton from Donald Trump to use the threat of tariffs to negotiate trade deals, and (b) his first priority is to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and then have its members negotiate as a group vis-a-vis the Great Central Country that is China. Chris Anstey notices:
Chris Anstey: Bessent Has a ‘Grand Encirclement’ Plan for China <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-04-12/bessent-has-a-grand-encirclement-plan-for-china-bloomberg-new-economy>: ‘US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emerged from this week’s market ructions as a perhaps-unexpected lead trade negotiator, offering a potential scenario for the coming months: US deals with longstanding partners that put pressure on China….US friends. At the end of the day, the Trump administration can probably reach an agreement with them. “Then we can approach China as a group,” he said…. Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and India… neighbors of China…. with which the US could work… a “grand encirclement” strategy. If this tactic sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The Obama administration’s big trade idea was using the Trans-Pacific Partnership to assemble a coalition of Pacific Rim nations that would increasingly be tied to the US, and not drift into China’s orbit. Trump abandoned the TPP shortly after first taking office in January 2017…
Not having blown up the TPP would have been the best thing. The Obama team knew what it was redoing in pursuing a strategy to rebalance the U.S.-China trade relationship. But, having blown up the TPP in the past, it would indeed be the best thing to resurrect it.
But that is not possible.