Sino File | It’s a matter of time before Trump and China embrace the TPP
A revised Trans-Pacific Partnership pact of 11 nations has set sail without the world’s two largest economies. Hopefully, they will soon climb aboard
The pact was finalised and signed by Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam in Tokyo on January 23. The original deal (then known as the TPP) in 2016 was also signed by the US. China was not part of the framework.
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The trade deal aims to deepen economic ties between member countries, slashing tariffs and fostering trade. The pact, had it included the US, would have had a collective population of 800 million, almost double that of the EU’s single market and would have represented about 40 per cent of global output and 40 per cent of world trade.
With higher standards, the trade deal shows remarkable progress in areas of open markets, level playing fields, environmental protections, workers’ rights and regulatory coherence. It will scrap some 18,000 tariffs.
Since the end of the second world war, the US has been the torch-bearer of global free trade. China has only recently become an active proponent since it implemented its opening-up in the early 1980s.