US should okay TPP deal before next president takes office

On the eve of last Tuesday's primaries in Michigan, pundits expected Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to come out as a winner in that Midwestern state, while speculating that Republican John Kasich, the governor of the neighbouring state of Ohio, had a chance to pull off a victory.

But once again in this extraordinary presidential primary season, conventional wisdom proved to be wrong. To the surprise of almost everyone, Mrs Clinton's challenger, Bernie Sanders, the 74-year-old social-democrat senator from Vermont, ended up scoring an upset win in Michigan, while Mr Kasich was beaten by Republican front-runner, real-estate magnate Donald Trump.

In addition to a New York birthplace, what Mr Sanders and Mr Trump also share in common is that they are both strong opponents of the pro-free trade policies that have been pursued by Democratic and Republican presidents since 1945, including the promotion of the historic Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) accord last year.