Howdy Polgara. Foreign affairs, not to be confused with the Council. No, of course China isn't invited to the talks. The fool hearty move by the US has been containment of China. This agreement started years ago with four PRC's and the US only joined it to take the lead in 2009. You can think of TPP as an economic NATO of the pacific, designed to bind PRC's to the US, effectively blocking China out. In reality, USFP which neocons regularly criticize, because you must criticize Obama if your a right winger, is in all actuality supported by right wingers no mater who's in power because of the scant difference in the policies of the two parties, but what you're seeing, as you and I have, I think, agreed upon in the past, is driving both Russia and China closer together. Of the three senators that have gone to the "secret" room and read the draft, Sanders, Warren and the third name escapes me at present, if you listen to their comments on it, you'll get a better understanding from them than you will from Jack, who has criticized another poster for commenting on the agreements negatives when he hasn't even read it, all the while that he supports it when in fact he hasn't read it either, lol. Surely you can see the conflict in a Republican Party that doesn't trust Obama to tell them the truth when they ask him what time it is, to being perfectly willing to give him "decider" authority on this trade deal, at the very same time that his party is steadfastly against it.
Put another way. If Bush was pushing TPP, and his party was against it, and the democrats wanted to give Bush sole authority to negotiate trade deals without congressional oversight, would you be skeptical of it. Oh, and then add to that that of the 28 committees in America that are secretly negotiating this trade deal, 85% of them are corporate executives and industry lobbyists! and add to that that there are churches, environmental groups, and labor unions against it. There really are reasons to be sceptic all of this treaty. And, just like NAFTA was negotiated by the George H. W. Bush administration, and signed into law by Clinton, this agreement is being pushed by the right, and likely will be signed into law by Obama!!!!!!