TPP is now dead, Countries looking at other FTA

[TaiShang]

TPP dies. @Viet Tell the news to your fellows in Viet'm.

Well, Vietnam will singlehandedly propose such a sweet deal to Trump that he will come back crying to embrace the TPP again.

 

[Kuwaiti Girl]

Excellent stuff. Go China!

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Is a setback but not the end of the world. Donald Trump is not against any tract pact. He wants a better deal for America. He is a businessman. Not a problem. Vietnam will offer him a new deal that he cannot deny.

Nope, the US was designated to benefit the most from the TPP, then followed by Japan.

But Trump just thinks it is not enough, he wants more.

 

[samsara]

Nope, the US was designated to benefit the most from the TPP, then followed by Japan.

But Trump just thinks it is not enough, he wants more.

Nope! TPP is designed to have the US BIG CORPORATIONS as the most winners, with all others are losers: the American workers, American people plus the people from the signed partner nations.

That's why the supposed to be trade treaty is negotiated in high, full secrecy...(just re-learn its absurd secrecy practices) because if its full contents are opened to scrutiny, people of all nations incl. the USA will reject the pact!

In laymen's words: through TPP, TTIP, and one or two more treaties, the CORPORATIONS (the giant MNCs/TNCs) wanna OVERTAKE the sovereign nations, supersede their laws and regulations. That's why the so-called "trade treaties" were negotiated in high secrecy. No sane people will accept the treaties if their contents are publicized and explained at great length!

 

[Viet]

Nope, the US was designated to benefit the most from the TPP, then followed by Japan.

But Trump just thinks it is not enough, he wants more.

that makes no sense at all. why Vietnam agrees to TPP if she gains nothing? any why Donald Trump rejects the pact if America gainst most? and any idea what more he wants?

 

[Viva_Viet]

that makes no sense at all. why Vietnam agrees to TPP if she gains nothing? any why Donald Trump rejects the pact if America gainst most? and any idea what more he wants?

Trump know that its hard for him to stay firmly in the President position, so even TPP is so good for US, but its Obama's legacy so Trump will not get any respect from it even when TPP work well.

Trum stop TPP just to try to make another better deal so he can gain respect from that.If he can not offer another better deal that TPP,then US will lose its influence in Pacific region within 10 years.

 

[TaiShang]

TPP demise hints US leadership in Asia-Pacific losing legitimacy

By Li Haidong Source:Global Times Published: 2017/1/23

Six departing US ambassadors in Asia, including Max Baucus, the ambassador to China, recently wrote to the US Congress in their last-ditch plea to call for continued support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that concerns the US "credibility as a trade partner and a leader" in the Asia-Pacific region. There is a slim possibility that President Donald Trump will review the ambassadors' request and adjust his stern opposition to the TPP.

Admit it or not, in the face of drastic changes in the US' Asia-Pacific policy, even those experienced and capable ambassadors are falling behind the times and having difficulties understanding what's going on in the world.

For starters, as the TPP goes against the Asia-Pacific economic integration, it deserves to be laid aside or abandoned. Washington's attitude toward the integration depends on whether it helps the US maintain its leadership in Asia.

In the first decade following the end of the Cold War, the US fully led and drove the regional integration. But in the next decade, it began diverting its focus from the integration to leading the global anti-terror operations. During this period, the East Asian community was strengthened by the creation of ASEAN-centered multilateral economic and security mechanisms.

In the third decade after the Cold War, the US realized that the economic integration of East Asia isn't necessarily conducive to its supremacy in the region.

The Obama administration promoted the TPP relentlessly more to hamper and tear apart the Asia-Pacific regional integration than to forge a multilateral trade mechanism with higher standards. This disguised intention makes the TPP setback a result not unexpected. Yet some US ambassadors pretend not to, or perhaps fail to, realize the inconvenient truth.

In addition, the US self-granted leadership in the Asia-Pacific region, which seems deeply rooted in the six ambassadors' mind, has built itself upon breaking up the unity of the Asia-Pacific economy and security.

Washington strengthens its bilateral alliances in the region, which are strongly exclusive, by creating and fuelling regional tensions. And the TPP has kept out a slew of Asia-Pacific countries and created a concept from which only its members will benefit.

In other words, both US alliances and the TPP pact have brought to the Asia-Pacific lasting disputes and division, instead of peace and prosperity. Hence, the US leadership is rejected by many countries and loses its legitimacy. Yet US ambassadors have forgotten to put themselves in others' shoes.

The six ambassadors were worried about the US ceding its leadership in regional trade to China, but they don't understand that it is ASEAN, not China, that stands at the core of Asia-Pacific free trade. For the ambassadors, building trade pacts in the region is an exclusive process; therefore, the TPP has to compete with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) for dominance in the regional economy. They thought that the RCEP demonstrates China's leadership and clout in the process.

Unfortunately, they have ignored the inclusive and mutually beneficial nature of economic integration in the region and misunderstood ASEAN's central role. The RCEP fully supports ASEAN and has been open to countries in and outside the region, which China embraces.

Nonetheless, the ambassadors tend to deem every arrangement that can benefit China as an attempt to eclipse US leadership, which actually implies their loss of confidence in their own country.

What's behind the sentiments shown in the letter is the fact that the US under Trump must swiftly adapt to a multipolar world. Based on their rhetoric, Trump and his team have made serious misjudgments about the situation in and outside the US. Their plans to levy high tariffs and adopt trade protectionism go against the trend of globalization. They blame the lackluster economy and high unemployment rate in the US on countries like China.

In fact, trading with China has assisted the US economic recovery and employment, and US problems are brought about by technological development, not the bilateral trade. Accusing other countries for the US' problems will only isolate the country from the rest of the world.

What Trump took over is a country that has wide rifts in political, economic, social and cultural fronts, and it's difficult for the new president to reverse the country's decay. The US will have to learn to adjust to the multipolar world.

The six ambassadors departed from their posts a short time ago. If Trump's mentality and policies deviate from the global economic trend, he will also be leaving his post in the near future.

The author is a professor with the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn