TPP brings 500m people into Pacific trade deal
Despite US withdrawal, Pacific rim countries forged ahead with trade agreement
The 11 remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will sign a new pact later today in Chile’s capital, Santiago.
The TPP had seemed dead in the water after Donald Trump took the US out of the deal early last year. But after overcoming differences, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and New Zealand finalised the details of the agreement in Tokyo on Tuesday, paving the way for the official signing today.
Japan’s TPP minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, described the deal as “a landmark for the future of our country and the Asia-Pacific region”, the Japan Times reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The original TPP would have represented roughly 40% of the world’s economic output. Without the US, the new pact, renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), will cover just 13% of global GDP, but still include around 500 million people.
It could be good news for the UK: earlier this year, says The Guardian, Britain floated membership of the TPP as a way to boost post-Brexit trade.
The deal has proved hugely controversial over the course of its long gestation period. The original pact aimed to deepen economic ties between Pacific rim nations, slashing tariffs and fostering trade to boost growth, and forging a closer relationship on economic policies and regulation.
But, for its US critics, the TPP was “a secretive deal that favoured big business and other countries at the expense of American jobs and national sovereignty”, says the BBC. Those on the left claimed it would cost US jobs and “pave the way for companies to sue governments that change policy on, say, health and education to favour state-provided services”, says the broadcaster.
Despite these reservations, former US president Barack Obama made the deal a priority of his second term, in part to boost US economic growth, but also to serve as a counterweight to China’s growing influence in the Pacific.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 generously funny cartoons on the $60 billion foreign aid package
Cartoons Artists take on Republican opposition, aid to Ukraine, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Knife: Salman Rushdie's 'mesmeric memoir' of brutal attack
The Week Recommends The author's account of ordeal which cost him his eye is both 'scary and heartwarming'
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: April 27, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
'Angel' visits woman before lottery win
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Doomsday group offers 'epic' survival opportunity
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Gaza hospital blast: What the video evidence shows about who's to blame
Speed Read Nobody wants to take responsibility for the deadly explosion in the courtyard of Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital. Roll the tape.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Flies attack Donald Trump
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Giraffe poo seized after woman wanted to use it to make a necklace
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Helicopter sound arouses crocodiles
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Woman sues Disney over 'injurious wedgie'
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published