A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that most U.S. workers would experience a net negative impact from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently under negotiation. The paper, “Gains from Trade? The Net Effect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement on U.S. Wages,” by economist David Rosnick uses economic modeling results that are widely-cited by proponents of the agreement. These recent estimates of the U.S. economic gains that would result from the TPP are very small—only 0.13 percent of GDP by 2025. This paper finds that taking into account the effect of the agreement on wage inequality, the median wage earner would lose as a result of any such agreement.
“Most U.S. workers are likely to lose out from the TPP,” CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said today. “This may come as no surprise after 20 years of NAFTA and an even-longer period of trade policy designed to put lower- and middle-class workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in the developing world, but it’s still important to examine the economic projections.”
The text of the draft agreement has largely been kept secret, including from most legislators, but those who have seen it, such as Representative Alan Grayson (D – FL), have confirmed that it is modeled on NAFTA and similar U.S. trade agreements.