Trump’s pullout of TPP opens way for China

China in particular wants to push forward with a proposed FTAAP (Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific).

However, he added: “At the meeting of TPP leaders, all the participating countries once again shared their determination to complete this challenge”.

“We’re breaking new ground here”, he said.

He has called accused China of currency manipulation and promised to hit it with a 45 per cent import tax on goods sent to America, prompting fears of a trade war.

Proponents of TPP, including Japanese and Australian officials, suggest that an Asia-Pacific trade deal has little chance of working without United States co-operation. Frederic Neumann, head of Asian economic research at HSBC in Hong Kong said China will be the bigger victor from the United States decision to withdraw. The deal has been backed by China and is seen as a way for Beijing to expand its influence in the region amid the likely collapse of US -backed TPP. Geng said all parties in the Asia-Pacific should have a say in regional matters, rather than just one country setting the agenda, and repeated that the issue of free trade should not be politicised.

While the 11 other countries in the TPP may pursue their own deal without the USA, the focus has also shifted to the RCEP, which includes the 10 members of Asean, plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Trump’s video address signaled a blow for environmental sustainability when he said that he would cancel restrictions on American energy such as shale gas and so-called “clean coal”, labeling the current restriction as “job-killing”.

Indeed, as Luis Andres Henao of The Associated Press reports, Japan’s prime minister said Monday that the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal would be “meaningless” without US participation.

China hopes for “early results” in negotiations for a giant Asian trade pact, its foreign ministry said Tuesday after US President-elect Donald Trump vowed to ditch a rival deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Many opponents believe that we can cut better trade deals for ourselves bilaterally. The consequences of this action, however, go far beyond a trade agreement, to the very heart of the global order – an order on which India’s rise is predicated.

“They’re going to go it alone without the U.S. Why aren’t we a part of that?”

Last week, TPP member countries Australia and Malaysia said they were looking at other free trade options, including the RCEP talks, if the TPP fails to come into effect.