"America produces things at the top of the pile: airplanes, wind turbines, solar panels. These are not things competitors can quickly imitate as it requires expertise and innovation. They are products that take years to develop. China or Mexico can’t just get some guys in a room and give them aluminum foil and tell them to make a 747."

America produces things at the top of the pile: airplanes, wind turbines, solar panels. These are not things competitors can quickly imitate as it requires expertise and innovation. They are products that take years to develop. China or Mexico can’t just get some guys in a room and give them aluminum foil and tell them to make a 747.

In such a scenario, America needs to answer a simple question as to why it should spend time making T-shirts  and socks when they can train unemployed former textile workers to program, and help them get jobs in new industries. Long gone are the days of thousands of men standing shoulder to shoulder in a Ford factory making Model Ts. Now robots paint and weld, plus machines that help auto workers put cars together. The next great middle-class job isn’t the auto assembly line employee who works in the GM plant for 40 years and retires. It’s the computer programmer who helps make the robots that build the cars.

Game changing revolutions

The time is right for America to enact game-changing trade policies. The countries in East Asia are turning to the US for leadership and, for protection. They want to trust US, like Germany did, as a reliable and stable partner for trade and security. Even Vietnam, formerly its enemy, now seeks to become its friend.

They want to help it make the 21st century the second American Century. It is in their interest to help the country and in its own interest to take their help. Instead, the countrymen or rather the government at the helm is too busy making America ‘great’ again while losing ‘bigly’ in the process. The initial impact could be praising for the President but it would rather be short term.

So the next time you buy a T-shirt at Target, take a look at the label. There’s a good chance it came from somewhere that would have been a part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As you’re looking at that tag, please think about the Vietnamese garment worker who would have benefited from a shorter working day and from being able to unionize. Consider the family who could have fed their children better, worked in better conditions and enjoyed more health and safety protections.