Opinion: The TPP is dead and gone

The one thing the Democrats and Republicans can seem to agree on is they're against the TPP (Patrick Gower / Newshub.)
The one thing the Democrats and Republicans can seem to agree on is they're against the TPP (Patrick Gower / Newshub.)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is dead and gone and it is thanks to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

Trump is dead against it.

Sanders is dead against it.

I've actually been really surprised at the level of visceral opposition towards the TPP from both sides here.

It is a huge issue.

Each time both Trump and Sanders have bagged the TPP, there have been huge roars from the Republican and Democratic Convention crowds. 

And the power of both the Trump and Bernie movements mean it would be political suicide for United States politicians to go against them right now and ratify the TPP.

Powerful sectors of both sides of politics are against it - and you never, ever hear anything from its supporters in either the Republicans or the Democrats.

The TPP has been burned on the political firestorm that is raging here.

Big numbers of Republicans are dead against the TPP.

And I can tell you that huge numbers of Democrats are against the TPP. 

Every single Bernie supporter - and there are a few - is invariably anti-TPP. Being anti-TPP is a core part of the revolution.

There's huge pressure on the Democrats because of this - Hillary Clinton has backed away from her support, and Vice-Presidential nominee Tim Kaine backed off real quick on TPP support too once announced. 

To be ratified, the TPP needs to get through the United States legislature - and it has only barely got the numbers.

It could get pushed through in the "lame-duck session" once Barack Obama leaves and before the new President takes over but Sanders declared all-out war against this on Tuesday night.

If Hillary wins, she won't want to deepen the divisions with her party by passing it.

As for a Trump win, well - say no more.

TPP supporters will bang on about all the possible machinations but the simple fact is this: The politics in America is against the TPP - and politics always wins in the end.

Maybe an 'adjusted' deal will re-emerge but the TPP as we know it is dead and gone.

Newshub.