Globalization Is Surviving Trump

Kevin Kester is used to taking the long view—his family has raised cattle on the land his Bear Valley Ranch occupies in California since 1867. But he also can see what looms in the not-too-distant future across the Pacific Ocean.

The 11-country trade deal once known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership has started to come into force, giving his Australian competitors what stands in coming years to be an increasingly valuable leg up in Japan, the U.S.’s most lucrative export market for beef. Thanks to President Trump’s withdrawal from the TPP—one of his first acts in office—American ranchers won’t get any of the benefits of the reduced tariffs for beef and other farm products U.S. negotiators spent years haggling over with Japan, the pact’s biggest remaining economy.