Yeah Trump blew that one up. Not one of his smartest moments.

But it was ideologically consistent for him, which is a rare thing with Trump. The idea behind MAGA economic matters is that manufacturing should be returned the US. The TPP didn’t really do that; it moved manufacturing out of China and into more politically tasteful states like Vietnam and Laos. So for Trump, it had to die.

Which was really stupid because it was a really hard negotiated treaty and would have boxed the Chinese in. But then again, MAGA has never went to the school of Bismarckian Real Politik. So it’s not surprising.