The President's Unseemly Attacks On Progressives DEFY LOGIC

[PosterChild]

195. I think you are confusing two issues...

... negotiation procedures vs. number of participants. Most, if not all of the recent bilateral trade agreements were made under fast track authority:

Under the second period of fast track authority, Congress enacted implementing legislation for the U.S.–Chile Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.–Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the Australia–U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.–Morocco Free Trade Agreement, the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.–Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.–Oman Free Trade Agreement, and the Peru–U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement. The authority expired on July 1, 2007.[9]

In October 2011, the Congress and President Obama enacted into law the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, the South Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement, and the Panama–U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement using fast track rules, all of which the George W. Bush administration signed before the deadline.[10]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_track_%28trade%29

It really isn't possible to negotiate complex trade agreements parlementarily - it requires an executive with the authority to represent the national interest and who can make reasonably binding promises and trade-offs during the negotiations.

The reason trade agreements are benifical to the participants is because of the size, extent and diversity of the economic markets that are integrated as a result. The more participants, the more opportunities can be had for everyone.

The world is moving away from bilateral and becoming more and more multilateral and global. That's progress and I'm a progressive.