China wary after Trump’s U-turn could see US rejoining TPP
US President signals America may sign up to Trans-Pacific Partnership as trade tensions between Washington and Beijing rise
Chinese analysts have said they are wary about the possibility that the United States will rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but shrugged off the immediate need to make policy changes.
US President Donald Trump asked his economic officials to look at the possibility of reopening talks about the TPP after talking to a group of Congressmen who expressed concern about a possible trade war with China and suggested that rejoining the Pacific Rim pact was the best way to pressure China.
The prospect was welcomed by Japan and other signatories to the deal but Trump, who had previously pulled America out of the TPP, later tweeted that he would only rejoin “if the deal were substantially better” than the deal Barack Obama agreed.
Trump also indicated that he was keen to pursue bilateral deals with Japan and other countries in the region.
The pact excludes China and was conceived as a way of countering China’s increasing economic influence in the region, although Beijing has said it has a “positive attitude” towards any deals that are transparent, open, inclusive and help to maintain the WTO-centred global free trade system.