The Fable of the Trans-Pacific Trade Pact

Read MoreCommentary The story of trade in our world is an ongoing fable of successes and failures, even as the setups to facilitate it are usually invariably designed to bring happily prosperous outcomes. Like all fables, there are lessons to be learned. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) began as an expansion of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP or P4) signed by Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore in 2005. In 2008, additional countries joined the discussion for broader agreement, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the United States, and Vietnam, bringing the negotiating countries to 12 by the time a new agreement was inked Feb. 4, 2016. Under former U.S. President Donald Trump, the United States was withdrawn in January 2017. The latest U.S.-less iteration has been renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), including 11 nations. Given that a World Trade Organisation (WTO) is ready and …