October 17, 2014
Some of the ideas of elite pundit types are truly amazing. Roger Cohen’s NYT column today was about the fact that China’s influence in Asia is rising at the expense of the United States. He tells readers:
“A new Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and elsewhere is palpable. By contrast, the United States seems less focused on the region since former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left office.”
The reality is that China has a larger economy than the United States. Its economy is already about 4 percent larger (adding in Hong Kong) and in five years it will be more than 25 percent larger and the gap is projected to continue to grow rapidly. Cohen apparently thinks that the personal interests of the secretary of state can overcome these differences in relative size.
Incredibly, among the specific policies that ranks high on his list for restoring U.S. influence in Asia is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Cohen describes as an ambitious free-trade agreement for the region. He blames President Obama for his “underwhelming” commitment to the pact.
In fact the TPP is very far from being a free trade deal. It’s mostly about imposing a business friendly regulatory structure on the parties to the agreement. High on the list are a series of measures that would strengthen patent monopolies and related protections, especially in the case of prescription drugs. Of course protectionism is the opposite of free trade. It means higher prices to consumers and slower growth. But apparently to Cohen, forcing consumers throughout the region (and the United States) to pay higher prices for Pfizer’s drugs is the key to restoring U.S. influence in Asia.
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