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"The problem there is that the Biden Administration’s diplomatic prowess has so far been decidedly JV-grade."

C'mon man. Why do you feel the need to insult JV teams that way? ;-)

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Oct 5, 2021Liked by Chris J. Karr, David Thornton

Getting people to understand tariffs and duties is above my pay grade. I hope this article reaches a few. I worked for a flower importer and the duties imposed on growers were paid by the importer and passed along the food chain until a dozen roses for Valentine’s Day cost a whopping $75.00. But convincing anyone that they did nothing to stop the war on drugs and only fattened the wallets of US Customs ( same people collecting tariffs) was an impossible task.

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Oct 6, 2021Liked by Chris J. Karr

To this day, I think that backing out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a major unforced error by the US. We lost major geopolitical leverage with China, as well as the ability to isolate and serve as a counterweight to their nefarious, quasi-imperialistic ambitions. Many of the countries that were signatories to it are staunch allies of the US, and unlike China, do respect intellectual property rights and adhere to the word of existential agreements(trade and political treaties) we have with them.

"In the meantime, those of us who are free traders regardless of who inhabits the Oval Office are left without a champion or a party. In case there was any doubt, there is no limited government, free trade party. There are only varying degrees of bad."

I remember back in 1993 when NAFTA was passed by Congress 234-200 in the House and 61-38 in the Senate. There was a healthy spread of free marketeers among both the Republican and Democratic parties. In these links, you see that most Republicans favored NAFTA, and while the number of Democrats who voted no on NAFTA outnumbered the "ayes", it was much closer to a 50-50 split. And this trade agreement was a smashing bipartisan success, and resulted in robust economic growth that lasted throughout most years of Clinton and Bush 43's presidencies, until the subprime collapse in 2008. The funny thing is that the USMCA that former President Trump crowed about, is essentially NAFTA under a different name, save a few minor changes.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/103-1993/h575#details

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=103&session=1&vote=00395

"One course would be to look at rejoining the CPATPP, but that that’s probably unlikely given the controversial nature of the trade pact. With the Senate split closely, it would be difficult to get such a treaty ratified. Even though Biden might find some help from the remaining free-trade Republicans who are willing to stand up to the populist protectionists, the Bernie Sanders Democrats could be counted on to oppose the treaty. (Protectionism was just one area where Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump had very similar views.)"

If this was the 1993-1994 Democratic Congress or the "Contract with America" era GOP Congress from 1995 to 2007, there would be more than enough votes for the US to join CPATPP or any other Asian-Pacific trade agreement. The problem with the Senate today, is that there are many GOP Senators who deep down, are free marketeers, but are afraid to run afoul of Trump and the MAGA crowd. I think among them, you'll see no votes for any free trade treaty/agreement from those who are facing reelection in 2022 and 2024. It's unfortunate, but as long as the MAGA base has a stranglehold on the GOP, this is the reality.

Treaties require an affirmative 2/3rds supermajority vote in the Senate for ratification. And we have to remember that even in 1993 with a more free trade friendly Senate, the vote for NAFTA was only 61-38. NAFTA was passed as a Congressional-Executive agreement, which requires only a simple majority in both the House and Senate. I see CPATPP going the way more of a congressional-executive route as opposed to a formal treaty, given that the number of free marketeers in Congress are considerably fewer than in years past.

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Oct 5, 2021Liked by Chris J. Karr

Someone had to confront China. Trump did and took the heat. I'm sure enough never-Trump pressure will cause Biden to cave and make China even more formidable.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/china-has-used-the-21st-centurys-three-defining-crises-to-steal-a-move-on-its-rivals

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You're right about Senator Cruz, sorry to say. That tweet embarrassed me. Back when he was running in 2016, he was more conscientious about his language and attitude (back when we all thought "evangelical" meant something). Since then, it looks like he realizes that the GOP base, and the MAGA crowd in particular, care more about "owning the libs" than they do about the values they claimed to hold dear. Let's see how his pandering plays out.

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