President Trump is right to reconsider rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Not only will the liberalized trade boost the economy, but more importantly, it would tie Asian nations more intimately to the U.S. and drag them out of the magnetic pull exerted by China.
This is how Trump needs to see international relations in general. Building alliances and trade compacts does not per se subordinate America’s concerns to those of foreigners. Done well, it advances our national interests by making it wiser for foreign countries to side with us and not with our rivals.
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., in an editorial board meeting with the Washington Examiner this week, laid out well why Trump should welcome not only the TPP, but also a broad outreach to Pacific nations.
“You’re dealing with an area of the globe that has five of our seven defense treaties,” Gardner said, “some of the largest standing armies in the world, an area where … a significant portion of global trade moves through. You have an area that in the near future will have 50 percent global GDP and 50 percent of global population.”
Gardner is pursuing legislation to reassure Asia by strengthening “security, economic, and rule of law” partnerships in the region.
Such agreements would put America first, mostly because they would counter the People’s Republic of China, our rival on the far side of the ocean.
Driven by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitions, China’s efforts to subdue American interests in the Asia-Pacific region are aggressive and clever. This includes efforts to woo the political and economic establishment of America’s closest ally, Great Britain, and to threaten U.S. military vessels sailing in international waters.
China is building a fortified network of islands in the South China Sea armed with advanced anti-ship and anti-air missiles, and air and naval bases. The military bases nearby are central to Chinese efforts to control the vast trade flows that pass through the Asia-Pacific.
The waters China aspires to control account for 40 percent of global economic trade volume, and China, bestriding the region, would dominate Vietnam, the Philippines, and Japan, putting these nations under pressure to support Beijing whenever Chinese interests are at stake on a negotiating table.
TPP and the permanent forward-deployed American military presence around Japan could provide a counterbalance to China’s ambitions, furthering our regional economic and security interests.
Fortunately, the Trump administration appears now to recognize this and is beginning to take action. We optimistically note the March port visit to Vietnam by a U.S. Navy carrier strike group. Such power projections illustrate U.S. resolve in a manner China cannot contest. In Vietnam’s younger population, America has natural friends devoted to free-market dynamism.
Likewise, in its young populations and booming economies, the entire TPP region offers vast export potential for U.S. businesses. By ensuring American businesses will be the ones providing the next generation of high value circuits, advanced heavy machinery, medical devices, and iPhones to the Asia-Pacific region, Trump can create the circumstances in which American businesses can create millions of well-paid jobs and lay the foundation for long-term economic growth.
It is in this sense that an improved TPP, which Trump now apparently seeks, is a win-win for the region and for us.
This won’t come to fruition unless Trump first recognizes his own ideology, “America First,” fits well with arrangements that encourage Vietnam, the Philippines, and other Pacific nations to be robust and self-assertive.
Those nations need American leadership in pursuit of common beneficial outcomes. This means vigorous efforts toward securing a strong TPP, greater military cooperation, and expanded diplomatic and civilian exchanges. Most of all, Trump must recognize American “winning” does not necessarily have to mean our trading partners losing.
The beauty of re-engagement in Asia is that those who embrace us and the rule of international law we enforce will benefit most. As the benefits of this re-engagement take hold and are visible to regional governments, others will pull alongside America instead of China.
Beijing knows this, which is why Xi relies on military threats and economic embargoes to achieve his ends. At the margin, he knows the U.S. system of co-operative economic engagement and respect for democratic norms is far more appealing than China’s political cronyism and economic feudalism.
It’s time for Trump to make America great again in the Pacific.
