Almost immediately after the inauguration, US President Donald Trump signed a decree on withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP), which, in his opinion, could result in economic disaster for the US. Now new president proposes US companies to personally negotiate with foreign companies, which will allow protect the interests of domestic producers.
The director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Yuri Rogulev, believes that the decision to withdraw from TPP was based on political considerations, not economic. "What Trump is trying to do is called protectionism... But many American economists believe that such a thing as American national economy doesn't exist. Apparently Trump doesn't think so."
Rogulev recalled about the conversation between Steve Jobs and Barack Obama about jobs in America: "Obama asks Jobs: 'Is it really impossible to produce iPhone in the US' And Jobs says: 'It is possible. But the problem is not just in the economy and jobs, the problem is in opportunities. Apple employed 700,000 factory workers in China, plus 30,000 engineers to support those workers. Why couldn't those engineers be American? If you could educate these engineers, then we could move more manufacturing plants here,' Jobs said."
In other words, even if factories of one company will be transfered to the territory of the United States it won't be able to function, because after the de-industrialization of the 1980s American educational system doesn't produce enough professionals.
"Barack Obama didn't consider economic income to be the main objective. He believed that the United States should re-write the rules of global trade. That is why Obama wanted to promote not only Trans-Pacific Partnership, but also Atlantic Partnership. That is why the issue of profit is secondary. Political issues are at the first place. Is this policy justified from economic point of view? Of course, American businesses will participate in it. Apple also makes profit, its headquarter is in California, but the company is registered in Ireland, factories are in China, so who gets the money? Apple corporation. Europeans already tried to sue Apple over non-payment of taxes, America also doesn't get enough taxes from Apple. This is today's biggest problem - national regulation is not enough and there is simply no international regulation," Rogulev believes.
