Must-Read: Josh Barro: But What Does the Trade Deal Mean if You’re Not a Cheesemaker?

Must-Read: Josh Barro: But What Does the Trade Deal Mean if You’re Not a Cheesemaker?: “Much of the controversy is because the T.P.P. isn’t really (just) a trade agreement….

…A lot of it is about labor, environmental standards, intellectual property and access to markets for services like banking and accounting. And in contrast with the tariff cuts, there’s a lot more reason to worry that some of the agreement’s non-trade provisions would hurt the world economy…. In particular, strengthening already overly strong protections for intellectual property could harm consumers and shrink the world economy over all…. Well-designed patent and copyright laws encourage innovation and expand the economy. But protections that are too strong just transfer wealth from consumers to owners…. All that said, not all these non-tariff rules are a negative…. takeaway, that’s not an accident. Congress is essentially debating Schrödinger’s trade deal: The partnership’s broad outlines are known, but its specific provisions remain unknown for the valid reason that multilateral deals can’t be effectively negotiated with every member of Congress in the room. Even if we knew exactly what was in the deal, the actual economic effects of its provisions wouldn’t necessarily be known until after implementation…