China Takes Free Trade Leadership Mantle From The US

Now that we have read the detail our earlier instincts have been proved correct. China has just signed the most comprehensive and ambitious FTA a big country has ever signed. This is great for APEC and the WTO and puts enormous pressure on all bilateral FTAs under negotiation. This deal is far better than the US-Australia FTA for example, and it makes all the FTAs that Japan and the EU have negotiated really pathetic. If Senator McCain becomes President there is hope for the US, but what if Clinton and Obama win? Given the comments they have been making on NAFTA and the Korea FTA what would they make of the deal just negotiated between China and New Zealand? Will the US under Obama or Clinton be able to grant China full free trade in 8 years?