Oh that trade deal that was meant to align Asian economies with American interests​ rather than China's? Killing that trade deal was stupid. All these countries in Asia would rather deal with us than China because they perceive us as more reliable and trustworthy. Now China is going to set all the rules for the region to their benefit and they're going to strongarm all those countries that we would have protected with our economic partnership.

Trade deals have winners and losers. They also tend to have diffused benefits but concentrated losses but the benefits far outweigh the losses. NAFTA was a net positive for the economy and for the average person it meant more income per year. Shout populist rhetoric all you want about the rich screwing over the little guy but know that it's not because of trade deals and killing a trade deal like this was stupid stupid foreign and economic policy.

If you're referring to those obscure litigation rules on the trade deal as evidence that the Dems are anti-consumer then you really need to educate yourself because that's already common international law and the wording in the trade deal makes very little difference to how it's handled. The idea that it would supercede financial regulations and consumer protections is ridiculous. It's populist hysterics that both parties were guilty of because of how unpopular it was. The most legitimate criticism of the tpp is that the strong patent protection would keep generic drug prices higher for longer.

I'm sure Reddit disagrees with me on this but I'm willing to argue that opposition to the TPP indicates profound ignorance.

The Planet Money podcast has a couple good episodes explaining trade deals that are meant for the layman.