Tag: Trans-Pacific Partnership
Perhaps no trade deal has been agreed to more times than the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has, firstly in 2005 taking the form of the Trans-Pacific Strategic and Economic Partnership, and then in 2016 as the enlarged U.S.-led TPP-12, and (hopefully) finally in November 2017 with the renamed “Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership” (CPTPP). The CPTPP, once a legal text is fully worked out, will take effect when six of the eleven remaining countries ratify it.
China’s leaders well remember the words of Barack Obama, who stated last May 14 that the TPP’s basic premise «allows America – and not countries like China» to shape the rules of international trade. Now China has the opportunity to make a retaliatory move, by claiming that it has become the arbiter of international trade.
The US President Donald Trump has assembled an eclectic team and who amongst the team mates represents his authentic voice on foreign policy remains to be seen. The recent visit by the United States Defence Secretary James Mattis to South Korea and Japan may have only added to the confusion.
President Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) signing an executive order on January 23 to formally pull out of the pact, which would have covered 12 nations and about 40 percent of global gross domestic product. The US-led deal would have reshaped commerce throughout the Pacific Rim. Mr. Trump opposed the pact because he said it could hurt American jobs. The agreement has never been ratified by Congress…
