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"best" is highly subjective. It certainly might not deliver the highest dollar value across the exchange.

The reason for this highly unfair soundbite is that most international trade treaty processes are designed NOT to favour one economy over the others and use "most favoured nation" language to try and put equity on the table. Thats before the US enters the room: My reading online in years past says that every economy which did the TPP said it did better overall when the US walked away from that deal.

Trump and his negotiators are not remotely interested in fixing problems globally, they're fixing their own vision of internal problems. A 10% across the board impost on goods coming in is frankly ludicrous, and the lack of awareness about how VAT/GST models work for importers and exporters in Europe and like economies is pretty stunning: In no way does VAT impose a burden on US incoming goods. it's neutral to all sources. Yet, Trump and his negotiators want to pretend they don't know that.

I'm not an economist or a game theoretician. I'm fine with you correcting my simplified language, but I do not think it was unfairly applied to the current political situation. I'm a simpleton shouting about another simpleton: the one who thinks the only negotiation worth doing is one he "wins" in and for him, winning definitionally means somebody has to lose.




> Trump and his negotiators are not remotely interested in fixing problems globally, they're fixing their own vision of internal problems.

Look at their pharma complaints. Pharma companies (many of which are American, but far from all) develop new drugs. In single payer systems, these behemoths have to go against state managed insurance systems, which generally set specific rules for purchasing (maximum price, etc). As these pharma companies WANT to sell in all the markets they can, they accept these rules. As a result, drugs made by them cost, let's say, $100 in those countries.

In the US, where pharma companies are still behemoths, they can divide et impera insurance companies, so pharma companies pretty much impose their prices, leading to absurd stuff like fancier insulin costing $1000.

Now, instead of working to reduce costs in the US, too, Trump & co want to INCREASE the cost of these drugs globally.




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