TPP-11 to discuss mechanism to welcome new members on Tuesday
Trade negotiators from the TPP-11 countries will gather in Japan today to discuss procedures for accepting new members into the free trade bloc.
The meeting comes shortly after Japan became the second country to ratify the TPP-11—the deal that succeeded the original Trans Pacific Partnership after the US withdrew in January 2017.
Without the US, it’s unlikely the TPP-11 will have the economic influence the old agreement possessed. The US has historically been a major export market for several of the bloc’s ASEAN member states, such as Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. For ASEAN members, the primary reason for being part of the former TPP was to gain greater access to this lucrative market.
Japan has spearheaded the drive to encourage the US to re-join and ultimately preserve the agreement. Today, take note of member states pushing for US re-entry into the alliance. Expect discussions on amending the TPP-11’s intellectual property rules as a way of compromising with the US, which left the agreement largely because of these rules it claimed were “unfair”.
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