Outcome of TPP deal irrelevant for US outlook

The big news last week was the announcement of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement between the US and 11 other countries, which aims to lower trade barriers and set common commercial standards. Even if the deal is approved by Congress we doubt it will have much of an impact on US trade flows. The 20-year old NAFTA agreement already allows for mostly free trade between the US and its key trading partners, Canada and Mexico. Another big partner, China, is not part of the TPP agreement. With the possible exception of Japan, the remaining countries in the deal are simply too small to provide much of a boost to US trade.