I watch the political debate on US, China, and other issues and I just facepalm because the debate is hijacked by people whose identity is so tied to their partisan preference they can't see straight. I think most Americans actually have split preferences when asked about 1/n

the issues rather than partisan leanings on the issue. I would fall into this camp perfectly. I am strongly pro-free trade. I support things like the TPP. In theory, I like the WTO and broad multilateral trade agreements. I think the US should lead on opening its markets 2/n

to countries throughout the Asia Pacific. That said, there are lots of problems there. The WTO is an unreformable behemoth. China cheats on its obligations and is not held accountable skirting the letter and spirit of the law. Both parties are responsible for sinking TPP 3/n

And yes, while free trade provides broad improvements in welfare it also provides narrow targeted pain to firms, industries, and workers. There is not a recognition by either side really that all of these things as matter of fact are true and difficult to reconcile. 4/n

If you say, yes, the Trump administration is correct the WTO has enormous failings you get branded. If you say, I support free trade and wish to see that pursued it's a problem. Yes, it's partisans on both sides. IMHO, the problem is that we are truly at one of the times 5/n

in history when we need to remake everything new and instead people are focused on slap fights over Tweets and politicians. Look at the facts of what we are dealing with across issues: free trade is good, lots of adjustments, WTO unreformable, China cheats. Reconcile those facts.