As hopes for the United States to sign on to the biggest global trade deal to date rapidly deteriorate, the cost of U.S. political deadlock may be felt most painfully in Asia in the near term. But in the long run, the cost of Washington’s political impasse won’t simply be about missing an opportunity to take a leading role in shaping trade relations in the world’s most populous region argues Northeast Asia associate Shihoko Goto in The National Interest. A delay or a watering down of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact will, in fact, hurt the United States’ political relations as much as its economic relations with countries that are key to keeping the peace in an increasingly unstable region, she adds.

Read the full article on The National Interest.