As Congress debated whether to authorize negotiations to complete a Trans-Pacific Partnership this year, the arguments were fraught with old misunderstandings about trade agreements, what they are and their intended economic effects.
Trade agreements are not job creators, job killers or deals that will detrimentally alter the nature of our economy. But they are agreements that promote best practices in trade (for example, through environmental and labor standards), shift people to higher paying jobs and bring competition that moves resources to the most efficient sectors of the economy.
