Financial, Consulting, Entertainment Industries to Benefit on Pacific Trade Deal
Bloomberg News
Which sectors will benefit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal? Quite a few, according to one expert.
The treaty "will give U.S. businesses better opportunities to export U.S. goods, services and investment capital into the 11 countries that are our TPP partners," explained Matt Gold, an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School in New York, who previously served as a Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative.
The industries that stand to benefit the most are those in which the U.S. leads global competitors, he said. They include legal services, financial services, the insurance industry and business consulting services as well as entertainment, movies, television, and music.
On balance, Gold said, trade agreements usually create more jobs than they cost, but industries in which the U.S. is less competitive are still likely to see cuts.
According to analysis from the Peterson Institute, the TPP will lead to an additional $123.5 billion a year in U.S. exports by 2025. The agreement is one of the biggest ever negotiated, with the participating countries representing 40% of the global economy.
Specifics about the long-debated, 6,000-page treaty, which Gold said provides advantages beyond the purely economic, were released by the Obama administration this week. The treaty still must be approved by Congress, which is divided on the issue.
The deal "will put the United States in a very strong strategic position with respect to China and Russia," said Gold. "When almost all the countries in the Pacific and Central Asia have joined the TPP, China and Russia economically will have absolutely no choice but to join."
But Gold doesn't see that happening right away. "It will take 15 years before those countries get over the sticker shock. It will take another 10 to 15 years before they actually come into the TPP. But that will be a major transformation, and that strategic positioning is probably the greatest positive point that I see in the big picture."