Editorial Board
Obama Is Right on the Trans-Pacific Partnership
But selling free trade requires reassurance as much as reason.
Opportunity knocks.
Photographer: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesIn his robust defense this week of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, President Barack Obama has reason on his side. But allaying anxiety, economic or otherwise, requires not so much reason as reassurance.
The challenge for Obama and other supporters of the deal is to overcome the country’s anti-trade mood without reopening the complex and hard-fought agreement, which would surely collapse in the attempt.