Hillary Brexit-ing: Will it be the end of TPPA?

Hillary Clinton unleashed her economic plan in a speech in Warren, Michigan.

In the speech, she yet again exhibit her inherent ability to rip apart any claims that Donald Trump's business acumen could translate into economic policies management.

What is interesting about the speech is the readjustment in her position on TPPA. Obama administration championed TPPA as to open the door for American multinationals entry into foreign market and level the playing field in a most comprehensive manner.

It is in line with her change in attitude towards big business to tune in with Bernie Sander's agenda. She advocate for higher taxes for the higher income bracket of "billionaires and Wall Street" as representative of the top 1% owning 90% of wealth in the country. 

Her change in position on TPPA may have been to neutralise a stance of Trump that is gaining public acceptance. Trump economic speech as below:

Bernie Sanders too opposed TPPA.

Brexit

For Trump, who went on an anti-immigration and "Americanisation" over globalisation campaign, showed a similar stance to the Brexit movement in the UK.

Brexit is the combination of the words Britain and exit that advocate the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). It has been the goal of various individuals, advocacy groups, and political parties since the UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of the EU, in 1973.

In a 1975 referendum, 67% of voters approved continued membership of the EEC. However in the recent June 2016 referendum, 52% voted to leave EU. This has resulted in a Brexit after shock of complex process of withdrawal and immediate impact on the economy of the UK and other countries.

The main issue that swayed the working class to vote for Leave EU was immigration. Incidently, planned or coincidence, it is also the very issue and a controversial one fought by Trump.

Immigration issue appeals to the Republican hardcore and working class voters. That enable Trump to gain support to win the Republican primaries and appeal him to the conservative segment of voters.

There are those that believe Britain will have a better deal on trade negotiations when done independently than under EU trade block.

TPPA flip flop

Clinton seemed to have taken the same route as Brexit, Trump, and Sanders with her new stance on TPPA. The Washington Times report:

Clinton says she’ll kill trade deal she helped Obama negotiate

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Thursday, August 11, 2016

Hillary Clinton said Thursday she will kill the Trans Pacific Partnership, delivering a flat rejection of the deal she once praised, and helped President Obama negotiate.

“I oppose it now, I’ll oppose it after the election, and I’ll oppose it as president,” she said, detailing her economic plans in a speech in Michigan.

The issue has dogged her for months, including most recently at the Democratic convention last month, where a close friend of hers, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, told Politico she would find a way to get the trade deal approved once she’s in the White House. Mr. McAuliffe backed off and the Clinton campaign rejected his claims, but GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said the comments exposed where Mrs. Clinton really stands.

She and her husband have generally been pro-trade, with former President Clinton having overseen the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization, and with Mrs. Clinton in the Senate backing all but two of the trade deals she voted on in Congress.

Mrs. Clinton on Thursday said she would do more than previous administrations to enforce protections that are included in existing trade deals.

She said Mr. Trump, who has vowed to cancel bad trade deals, is unable to get anything done.

“The answer is not to rant and rave or to cut ourselves off from the world. The answer is to finally make trade work for us, not against us,” she said.

WSJ and Bloomberg reported the same too here and here, respectively. The Bloomberg link has video on the specific part of the speech on TPPA.

Did she do a typical Hillary flip-flop? Yes she did, according to Politifact here.

Trump should be pursuing this issue and let the media do their Woodward and Bernstein e-mail investigation. Latest being here and from last night CNN, here.

For Hillary, she can always say it is a necessary change to be consistent with her other campaign policy promises. The often heard rhetoric of it is what the people want will be heard too.

Whether it is only politics or serious stance of Hillary, Obama too promised the same on NAFTA during his presidential campaign but renegade on it.

Vindication

What is important, it is vindication for Malaysia's Dato Mustapha Mohamed. 

He and his team at the Ministry negotiated to water down and include exemptions for Malaysia in the TPPA to be consistent with Malaysian constitutional provisions on Bumiputera and state powers.

Now that both sides of the American political divide realised that TPPA only favours big business and/or does not help their domestic economy, what will be the TPPA after shock be like should the US pull out?

Will this be the end of regionalisation and the return to nation-state? In this posting on Turkey military coup here, this blog wrote:

The rise of caliphate and Ottoman empire is a dreamy romanticism of the past. Brexit is too early an indication to claim the end of regional grouping of nations and the return to the individual modern nation state. Still, it is far cry from the Medievel and Renaissance era of city state which were the backbone of empires! 

It could be true because regional cooperation for security remains at large. However, it is indication of a new geoglobal alignment in the making. Wait for more to come ....