Now that Asia has stitched together the world’s biggest trading bloc, US financial and tech firms ought to be more than a little worried. Japan is keen for Joe Biden, as the next president, to reverse the exit. But the goal of a US pivot to Asia can’t solely be to encircle China. Anti-free-trade groups like bilaterals.org have noted that TPP’s stricter digital trade rules would have won more ironclad guarantees for dominant tech companies. Cheerleaders of globalization obsessed over tariffs and non-tariff barriers and didn’t pay enough attention to the supply-chain revolution, most notably in China.

Source: Mint November 18, 2020 15:00 UTC