Stephen Kho Quoted by Law360 on Trade Forecast for Trump Administration
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For its article “International Trade Issues To Watch In 2017,” Law360 quoted Akin Gump international trade partner Stephen Kho on changes on the horizon with the accession of Donald Trump to the presidency.
Kho started by noting, “There will be a lot of activity. It may not be the type of activity that some observers and policymakers would like, but it’s definitely going to be a busy year.”
On the topic of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump had criticized throughout his campaign, Kho called the trade pact “too big to fail,” adding, “At some point, the Trump administration is going to educate themselves about the intricacies and the complexity of this agreement.” He noted that, although Trump’s boiled-down criticism of TPP resonated on the campaign trail, the trade pact is much more complicated.
Kho also said that, although the TPP encompasses much of the Asia-Pacific under one set of rules, the Obama administration may have been too ambitious in pursuing it, and Trump may return to cutting one-to-one trade deals. He added, “If bilaterals are the way to go, they might realize that this isn’t all that bad. This administration tried to be all things to all people, which I think is impossible. There were too many pieces there that made too many people unhappy.”
