Trading down

DEPENDING on who is talking, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is either the world’s most ambitious trade deal or the most dangerous. But these days a simpler description suffices: it is dead. With Donald Trump’s victory, America has abandoned TPP, in effect killing the trade pact that was a decade in the works and nearly complete. Amid all the unknowns about what Mr Trump’s presidency might mean, this is one of the few certainties.

The consequences are far-reaching. TPP’s collapse removes the main economic plank of Barack Obama’s much-hyped, largely abortive “pivot” to Asia. It leaves a gaping hole in the architecture of Asian commerce. And it adds to the strong headwinds that are buffeting global trade.