CPTPP another unmistakable sign Washington barking up wrong tree

THE COMPREHENSIVE PROGRESSIVE Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) went into effect on Sunday. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

After the United States withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, Japan inherited the desire to advance the regional trade pact and successfully developed it into the CPTPP, which has 11 members that together account for 13 percent of the global economy and 500 million people.

So far the legislatures of seven countries－Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam－have ratified the agreement. And it will only be a matter of time before the legislatures of the other four signatories－Brunei, Chile, Malaysia and Peru－follow suit.

Although the agreement remains open to the United States, it is unlikely the current administration, an obstinate supporter of unilateralism and protectionism, will go back on its decision.

According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank based in Washington DC, the US would have been able to make a profit of about $131 billion each year as a member of the planned TPP, now as an outsider to the CPTPP agreement, the US stands to lose at least $2 billion a year.

For instance, after the CPTPP is in place, the US will have to pay much higher tariffs than Australia and Canada for the beef and wheat it exports to Japan.

The Economic Partnership Agreement was signed by Japan and the European Union half a year ago－which covers 600 million people and accounts for one-third of the global economy and 40 percent of world trade.

That means that Tokyo and almost all of Washington's main Western allies have now conveyed an unmistakable message to the US administration that they remain firm proponents and advocates of free trade and multilateralism, two pillars of economic globalization.

Now, Washington has to live with the fact that it cannot use its economic might to reverse the overall trends of the global economic and trade system.