Topic: Tpp

In a segment titled "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong," Jason Whitlock argues that Nike is the true power behind the NBA and its political leanings. Whitlock connects President Obama's 2015 defense of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at Nike headquarters to the current animosity toward Donald Trump, who withdrew from the deal. He suggests Nike uses its $40 billion leverage to direct the NBA's political narrative against Trump's trade policies.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is discussed as a secretive document that favored corporate interests and would have potentially hurt China by shifting manufacturing to countries like Vietnam. Speculation is raised that President Trump may have used the threat of the TPP, or his withdrawal from it, as a leveraging tool to secure the current trade deal with Beijing.