The Trans-Pacific Partnership as a set of international economic rules

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement was finally signed in February 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand. The negotiations involved only 12 countries, but had to go through many twists and turns because of a crisscross of confrontational relationships — large advanced economies versus emerging economies; exporters (“Cairns group”) versus importers (“G-10”) in agricultural trade ; and market economy countries versus state capitalist countries. Despite such difficulties, at a time with no evident signs of hope for the Doha Round of negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the successful conclusion of the TPP negotiation, an ambitious trade liberalisation initiative, is surely an event worthy of celebration. About half a year after the release of the full text of the TPP Agreement, we have been gradually “deciphering” what the tons of documents all really mean, but most of the task remains to be done. In this short piece, I would like to attempt to outline, offer a perspective on, and share my brief impression of this new set of rules. What is a 21st century FTA? At the conclusion of the TPP Agreement, leading figures, including Akira Amari, Japan’s then state minister in charge of the TPP, repeatedly called it a “21st...

Written by Tsuyoshi Kawase