The Mexican government plans to continue with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) even if Donald Trump decides to withdraw the United States from the 12-nation trade deal.
Trump blasted the Asia-Pacific agreement throughout his campaign, describing it as “a great danger” and “the rape of our country.” He repeatedly said killing the deal would be one of the first actions of his presidency.
Even though the TTP cannot take effect without the ratification of the United States, Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said the 11 remaining Asia-Pacific countries are likely to come together to formulate a separate arrangement. Other leaders, however, including Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, have inferred the trade deal is effectively dead in the water without the United States.
The TTP aims to create a free-trade zone with common labour and environmental standards, and measures to protect data and intellectual property of large companies. As well as Mexico and the United States, the agreement includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Its members comprise around 40 percent of global GDP.
China and India were purposely excluded from the deal as a means of redressing the trade balance in southern Asia. Barack Obama believed that by forging stronger economic and political alliances in southern Asia, TTP would act as a counterweight to the rise of China.
Many backers of the TTP say by withdrawing from the agreement, the United States is essentially passing the baton of free trade to China.
China has said it will continue to push for the alternative Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that excludes the United States and Mexico.
Some of the advantages of TTP to the United States are undeniable. It removes 18,000 tariffs placed on U.S. exports to the other countries and is calculated to increase exports by US$123.5 billion. Although Trump called TTP a “horrible deal” for the United States, it actually enhances labor rights, install minimum wages, puts state-owned enterprises and foreign and domestic private companies on an even keel, allows the free transfer of information and safeguards intellectual property rights.
TTP’s detractors have argued vigorously that the agreement is not in the interests of lower-paid U.S. workers, as it encourages U.S. corporations to relocate factories to nations that pay much lower wages. Democratic Party Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders said TTP “threatens our democracy” by giving multinational corporations the “ability to challenge our nation’s labor and environmental law through the very flawed Investor State Dispute Settlement system ... This agreement will make it easier for corporations to throw American workers out on the street and move factories to Vietnam, where workers are paid 65 cents an hour,” Sanders said. He said all trade unions, and religious and environmental groups oppose the deal, as well as the medical profession, because the protection of patents and copyrights will increase prescription-drug prices for some of the most desperate people in the world by making it harder to access generic drugs.
Withdrawal from TTP will create less furore in Democratic ranks than among Republicans.
Hillary Clinton supported the measure and then backed off prior to the debates, prompting Trump to call her about-face “shameful.” However, his vice-presidential pick, Mike Pence, had been a vocal supporter of TTP since the proposal first surfaced and only decided to switch his position after being asked to run on the ticket.