Withdrawal from Trans-Pacific Partnership 'intellectually dishonest, strategically wrongheaded,' international trade expert says

LAWRENCE — President-elect Donald Trump issued a video detailing policy plans for his first 100 days in office on Monday, including a vow to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership “from day one.” The agreement between the United States and 11 other nations is history’s largest free trade agreement but has not yet been ratified.

Raj Bhala, associate dean for international and comparative law and Rice Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas School of Law, is available to discuss the announcement and trade deal with media. Bhala is an international trade law expert and author of the recent book “TPP Objectively: Law, Economics, and National Security of History’s Largest, Longest Free Trade Agreement.” He can discuss the TPP, what it means for trade for the U.S. and partner nations, China, the agreement’s role in national security, Trump’s announcement to remove the U.S. from the agreement, what it would mean for the remaining nations, how the U.S. might be able to withdraw and related topics.

“It certainly is not the ‘art of the deal’ to drop out of TPP. To do so is intellectually dishonest and strategically wrongheaded. The clever approach is to consider modest changes to the existing deal, coupled with meaningful help to boost the human capital of American workers so they can meet the pan-Asian competition they will face inevitably, in goods, services and IP,” Bhala said.

Before Trump’s announcement Monday Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe said the TPP would be “meaningless” without American participation. In his book, Bhala presents an objective analysis of the trade agreement, assigning it a B grade overall. In terms of security, he assigns the TPP an A grade and the economic aspect a C.

Bhala has worked in 11 of the 12 TPP nations and has a global reputation in the scholarship of international trade law. He has authored dozens of books and journal articles, including “Modern GATT Law” and “Understanding Islamic Law (Shari’a).” He has practiced international banking law at the Federal Reserve of New York before entering academia and currently serves as a legal consultant to Cheniere Energy and other prominent organizations and firms. He has worked in 25 countries around the world.