Ohio Senator Portman, in Final Policy Effort in Senate, Calls for More Global Trade

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) retires at the end of the year, but before he does, he hopes to have a hand in reenergizing openness toward global trade, a policy perspective that hasn’t been ascendant in the Biden administration or the preceding Trump administration. 

In a guest column for the D.C.-based Hill newspaper, Portman and his Democratic Delaware colleague Chris Coons called on Congress to pass a legislative package facilitating foreign trade agreements. The lawmakers particularly urged enactment of their Trading System Preservation Act. The act would enable the president to iron out industry-specific trade deals with other nations that are part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and would allow negotiation of comprehensive agreements with Ecuador, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and Kenya. 

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Commentary: Biden Signals Pivot Back to China with Controversial National Security Council Pick

President Joe Biden is signaling a pivot back to China with his most recent choice to sit on the National Security Council, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.

Campbell wrote the book, “The Pivot: The Future of American Statecraft in Asia,” where he argued, “While the Asian Century detoured to the Middle East in the years following the September 11 attacks… the United States has led a ‘Pivot’ (or ‘rebalancing,’ as many prefer) of American diplomacy toward the nuanced yet demanding tasks of engaging a rising Asia. The Pivot is premised on the idea that the Asia-Pacific region not only increasingly defines global power and commerce, but also welcomes U.S. leadership and rewards U.S. engagement with positive returns on political, economic, and military investments.”

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President Trump Stands by His Base, Rejects Trans-Pacific Partnership for Good

By Robert Romano   President Donald Trump is back to the issue that got him elected more than any other and transformed the U.S. electoral map in 2016, and that is rejecting the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that had been proposed by former President Barack Obama. On Twitter on April 17, Trump appeared to rule out the TPP once and for all: “While Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don’t like the deal for the United States. Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn’t work. Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers. Look how bad WTO is to U.S.” That had followed a turbulent week for the President as he toyed with the idea of getting back into the TPP.  Bloomberg had reported on April 12 that “Two White House officials who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the president directed economic adviser Larry Kudlow and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to explore the feasibility of re-entering the TPP.” The President then confirmed his thinking on Twitter on April 12 that he was open to a new deal, but offered certain provisos: “Would only join TPP if the…

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