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Canada and 5 other nations pull trigger on world’s biggest trade deal — leaving America out in the cold.
The world’s most radical trade pact has come into force across the Pacific as the U.S. sulks on the sidelines, marking a stunning erosion in American strategic leadership.
Eleven countries are pressing ahead with the Comprehensive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), defying barely-disguised efforts by the Trump administration to kill the treaty.
A vanguard of Japan, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, Canada and New Zealand activated the treaty over the weekend, ripping down barriers to trade in almost all goods. It eliminates 18,000 tariffs and slashes others in stages over coming years.
The great irony is that the U.S. itself drafted much of the original text under the Obama administration, aiming to ensure that Washington, not Beijing, writes the rules of global trade and commerce in the 21st century.
The pact opens up trade in services on the basis of equal treatment. It cuts the costs of customs clearance, rules of origin and compliance to a minor friction. Once Vietnam, Malaysia, Peru, Chile and Brunei have ratified the treaty it will cover 13.5 per cent of global GDP, bigger than the EU’s post-Brexit market and a faster-growing region of the global economy.
South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia and Colombia have all expressed interest in joining. So has the U.K., despite being in the Atlantic. It promises to become the world’s biggest free trade zone in short order, and perhaps the nucleus of a new global order.
The partnership – earlier known as the TPP – was originally a tool of U.S. foreign policy. It was to anchor the “Asian pivot” and underpin the US system of military and diplomatic alliances around the Pacific Rim.
In the words of one former U.S. defence secretary it was worth more to American power than another aircraft carrier battle group. Above all, it was a way to “contain” the hegemonic reflexes of China.
Instead it is the U.S. that has contained itself. President Donald Trump pulled the country out of the talks within days of taking office in January 2017, deeming it a “potential disaster” for American workers. Critics say it will go down as the greatest strategic blunder of his presidency.
Read the link for rest of story.
The world’s most radical trade pact has come into force across the Pacific as the U.S. sulks on the sidelines, marking a stunning erosion in American strategic leadership.
Eleven countries are pressing ahead with the Comprehensive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), defying barely-disguised efforts by the Trump administration to kill the treaty.
A vanguard of Japan, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, Canada and New Zealand activated the treaty over the weekend, ripping down barriers to trade in almost all goods. It eliminates 18,000 tariffs and slashes others in stages over coming years.
The great irony is that the U.S. itself drafted much of the original text under the Obama administration, aiming to ensure that Washington, not Beijing, writes the rules of global trade and commerce in the 21st century.
The pact opens up trade in services on the basis of equal treatment. It cuts the costs of customs clearance, rules of origin and compliance to a minor friction. Once Vietnam, Malaysia, Peru, Chile and Brunei have ratified the treaty it will cover 13.5 per cent of global GDP, bigger than the EU’s post-Brexit market and a faster-growing region of the global economy.
South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia and Colombia have all expressed interest in joining. So has the U.K., despite being in the Atlantic. It promises to become the world’s biggest free trade zone in short order, and perhaps the nucleus of a new global order.
The partnership – earlier known as the TPP – was originally a tool of U.S. foreign policy. It was to anchor the “Asian pivot” and underpin the US system of military and diplomatic alliances around the Pacific Rim.
In the words of one former U.S. defence secretary it was worth more to American power than another aircraft carrier battle group. Above all, it was a way to “contain” the hegemonic reflexes of China.
Instead it is the U.S. that has contained itself. President Donald Trump pulled the country out of the talks within days of taking office in January 2017, deeming it a “potential disaster” for American workers. Critics say it will go down as the greatest strategic blunder of his presidency.
Read the link for rest of story.
