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    The TPP: Truths about Power Politics

    Cook, Malcolm | August 2017
    Abstract
    Preferential trade agreements are negotiated by states. By definition, they are political in nature. The more powerful the state involved, the more it can shape the trajectory of trade negotiations. The three stages of the TPP – before the US joined, while the US was a TPP member, and the US withdrawal from TPP – reaffirm this political-economic truth. Political interests often trump economic ones when it comes to trade agreements. This paper analyses the three stages of the TPP using the tools of International Relations. It highlights key political truths that are reaffirmed by each TPP stage. The first phase highlights how small states interact in the hierarchical inter-state system as policy brokers and policy entrepreneurs to attract the interest of larger states. The second stage underlines how the US-China rivalry for regional leadership in East Asia shaped how the TPP with the US in it was interpreted in primarily strategic not economic terms as was the way the Obama administration tried to sell the TPP to a trade-wary Congress. The third stage, US withdrawal and the post-US TPP, is still in its early days. Yet, the nature of the US withdrawal and the reasons given by President Trump for this, reinforce the fact that strategic interests are not fixed and predictable but are contingent on leaders’ beliefs. Political interests are often more important to the trajectory of trade agreements than economic ones and are less quantifiable and more variable.
    Citation
    Cook, Malcolm. 2017. The TPP: Truths about Power Politics. © ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/7690.
    Keywords
    Government Policy
    Regional Organization
    Regional Plans
    Economic integration
    Regional Development Bank
    Preferential tariffs
    International negotiation
    Protectionist measures
    Access to markets
    Economic agreements
    International trade law
    Regional integration
    Trade relations
    Regionalism
    Regional Economy
    Regional Trading Arrangements
    Regional Trade Integration
    Regional Economic Integration
    Regional Cooperation
    Interregional Cooperation
    Trade Disputes
    Trade Barriers
    Regional economics
    Regional planning
    Regional disparities
    Interregionalism
    Regional economic disparities
    Regional economic blocs
    Industrial arbitration
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    Citable URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11540/7690
    Metadata
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    ISEASEWP2017-06Cook.pdf (473.5Kb)
    Author
    Cook, Malcolm
    Theme
    Regional
    Trade
     
    Copyright 2016-2020 Asian Development Bank Institute, except as explicitly marked otherwise
    Copyright 2016-2020 Asian Development Bank Institute, except as explicitly marked otherwise