Just before President Trump is set to sign orders on protective tariffs for steel and aluminum imports, 11 U.S. allies signaled their commitment to free trade by signing the Trans Pacific-Partnership trade deal. The U.S. was not among the signatories, having backed out of negotiations last January.
The formulation of the partnership, which is made up of countries that together comprise more than 13 percent of the global economy, was initially spearheaded by the U.S. as a means to counter China's surging economic power. But Trump, following through on one of his most consistent campaign promises, killed the deal soon after entering the White House in order to "protect American workers." Most analysts predicted that the U.S.'s exit from the agreement would kill the deal, but the remaining countries — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — rallied to save it.
The deal, which is now formally known as The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), doesn't pack quite the same punch without the support of the U.S., but it will still be one of the world's three largest trade agreements. The New York Times reported that an analysis conducted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates that the CPTPP will lead to $147 billion in additional global income — and possibly more, if other nations such as Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand eventually join.
The U.S. has not completely written off the idea of re-entering into the agreement in the future, but the Trump administration's recent protectionist rhetoric will seemingly make that more challenging. Read more about the CPTPP at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday pushed back on calls for a second referendum on Brexit, the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.
May particularly condemned remarks from former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said this week a new vote should be considered if "none of the other options work." May accused Blair of "seek[ing] to undermine our negotiations by advocating for a second referendum," arguing "Parliament has a democratic duty to deliver what the British people voted for."
May's proposed Brexit deal with the EU has stalled, lacking support to pass a House of Commons vote. Bonnie Kristian
The North Korean government on Sunday issued a typically dramatic statement condemning the United States' sanction regime and suggesting denuclearization plans are in jeopardy.
Pyongyang accused the U.S. State Department of being "bent on bringing [North Korea]-U.S. relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire," warning that additional U.S. sanctions would be America's "greatest miscalculation" and would "block the path to denuclearization on the Korean peninsula forever."
This comes as Pyongyang observes the seventh anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong Il and the rise to power of his son, current leader Kim Jong Un. Bonnie Kristian
Negotiators representing nearly 200 nations in Katowice, Poland, on Saturday agreed to universal greenhouse gas emissions limits intended to mitigate global climate change.
"It is not easy to find agreement on a deal so specific and technical," said Polish economist Michal Kurtyka, who is leading the United Nations negotiations. "Through this package you have made a thousand little steps forward together," he told the assembled delegates. "You can feel proud."
U.S. negotiators sought to label coal a possible source of clean energy but also pushed for transparency and rules which apply equally to all participant nations. "Overall, the U.S. role here has been somewhat schizophrenic — pushing coal and dissing science on the one hand, but also working hard in the room for strong transparency rules," Elliot Diringer of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions told The Associated Press. "[T]he U.S. pushed harder than nearly anyone else for transparency rules that put all countries under the same system, and it's largely succeeded." Bonnie Kristian
