But restricting trade with other countries would be more harmful for the U.S. than in the past. As the graph below shows, the U.S. has become more dependent on exports in recent years:
In particular, the U.S. benefits enormously from trade with rich countries like Japan and Europe, which have wage levels comparable to the U.S.'s. These countries don’t put U.S. workers out of jobs; instead, trading with them simply creates work for Americans and allows the U.S. to buy a wider variety of products. Killing the TTP and TTIP would choke off this beneficial trade. It would also weaken the country's main geopolitical allies.
I’m not saying that we should let trade policy keep going on the path of business-as-usual. Export promotion policies, for example, might be helpful in remedying our trade deficit. But smart technocratic tinkering like that is far too mild for a fire-breathing crusader like Sanders. As a result, he risks harming the U.S. economy based on a nothing more than a gut feeling that isn't grounded in facts.