The Trump Way

http://socialistproject.ca/bullet/1351.php
Date Written:  2017-01-04
Publisher:  Socialist Project
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX20242

Arun Gupta spoke to Leo Panitch about Trump's economic agenda, his relationship to transnational elites, and how neoliberalism's crisis could mean revitalization for the Left.

Abstract: 
-

Excerpt:

Arun Gupta (AG): Are there positive outcomes from this election? Can we say corporate free-trade deals are no longer a sure thing?

Leo Panitch (LP): Certainly the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is over, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is too, I would imagine. That said, I don't think this spells the end of neoliberal international trade arrangements that allow for the free flow of capital and the protection of that capital when it lands in another state, which is the main point of the free-trade and investment treaties now. And I don't think we are going to see the introduction of massive import controls that would interrupt the integrated global production network we have.

The Trump administration has an enormous interest in keeping the flow of capital and trade going. I expect we will see a diminution of the labour and environmental side agreements that go with these international arrangements, not that they were worth very much, including those that are a part of NAFTA.