Global Economics Monthly: With TPP, The United States Advances on the Middle Chessboard

In his 2003 book, The Paradox of American Power, Joseph Nye described international power politics as a competition played on a three-dimensional chessboard. Military might was on the top tier, economic power in the middle, and transnational relations among nongovernment actors on the bottom. Nye noted that in contrast to the top layer, where the United States still dominated, the economic level was more contested and required Washington to bargain with Europe, China, and other major economies. By completing a Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal this month, Washington advanced its queen and declared “check” on the middle chessboard...