To TPP or Not TPP? Should the U.S. Join the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Other International Trade Agreements?

Panel discussion given at Debate 2016 Symposium conducted at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law, Hempstead, New York. Transcribed by Haley Trust, Journal of International Business and Law. The TPP is an international trade agreement between twelve Pacific Rim nations including the United States. The other nations that'll join the TPP are Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Peru.

Combined, the economies of these countries in the TPP have a combined population of eight hundred million people and comprise of about forty percent of the world's economy. Negotiations for the TPP have been going on in bits and parts, largely over the last seven years and have been a priority of the Obama administration for most of its two terms. Negotiations went on culminating in a final agreement signed on February fourth of this 2016. This panel discusses the pros and cons of the Trans-Pacific Partnership as well as many other such trade partnerships.