Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Research Articles

Amidst a Global Trade War: China, Japan and the United States and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for a Transpacific Partnership

Due to the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the remaining 11 partners entered into a new trade agreement, renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in January 2018. In this text we examine the reasons why the “orphans” of the TPP decided to save the agreement under a different version by first examining the two dominant explanatory models, realism and functionalism, and then proposing a complementary one that emphasizes the need for a strong legal and normative framework to promote the integration of mid-powers into trans-Pacific and even global value chains. This text also illustrates the unique leadership and activism of Japan in the negotiation process.

The “Labour” chapter of the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership as neoliberal regulation

With the possibility of Brexit and the UK leaving the European Union and considering joining the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Professor Joo-Cheong Tham, Melbourne Law School argues that the “Labour” chapter of the CPTPP constitutes a form of neoliberal regulation – faux regulation.
 Index keywords: Brexit, United Kingdom, International trade regulation, European Union, Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership

Do free trade agreements promote sneaky protectionism? A classical liberal perspective

Abstract A neglected aspect of regional trade agreements (RTAs) is their protectionist potential. In times of a stagnating World Trade Organization (WTO), growing economic nationalism and skepticism about the merits of free trade and trade agreements, the paper examines to what extent recently signed RTAs really promote genuine free trade or rather foster sneaky protectionism under the guise of free trade. For this, the paper proposes an ideal-type free trade agreement benchmark model based on a classical liberal perspective and applies it in a multiple case study approach to assess three cases of recently concluded mega-RTAs: the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the renegotiated North American trade agreement USCMA, and the Canada–European Union (EU) agreement CETA. The article shows that all of them are far from the classical liberal ideal of totally free trade and have a high content of back door protectionism suitable to raise trade barriers when politically opportune. In particular, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) includes many clear protectionist provisions that might even outweigh its liberalizing stipulations, whereas CPTPP and CETA can be deemed net liberalizing. It concludes that given political economy constraints, RTAs can nevertheless remain a second-best solution to the classical liberal ideals of completely unhampered trade and unilateral liberalization provided that they remove more impediments to free exchange than they cement or create.

L’accès aux médicaments : quelles contributions des règles sur les brevets de l’Accord de partenariat transpacifique global et progressiste ?

Enhanced protection for patents in free trade agreements would undermine access to medicines and show difficulties for developing countries with respect to public health issue. In the context of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, however, after the withdrawal of the United States, the legal regime applicable to patents seems less rigid and, therefore, more favorable to access to medicines. This results, on the one hand, from certain flexibilities contained in this agreement itself; and on the other hand, the suspension of some material and procedural obligations. This article aims to analyze these two sides to justify the contribution of this agreement to ensure access to medicines.

Biosecurity, Investor-State Dispute Settlement and Corporatogenic Climate Change: A Challenge for Australian Public Health Regulation and Human Rights

It is a politically controversial but by no means scientifically contentious hypothesis that many of the root causes of contemporary climate change emerge from the profit-seeking activities of multinational corporations – for instance in the oil, coal, deforestation and livestock industries. Contemporary corporatogenic warming of the climate is recognised scientifically as not only having tragic environmental consequences, but also creating significant biosecurity risks. Using the 2008 Dengue Fever outbreak in Northern Queensland as a critical focal point, this article explores the implications of corporatogenic climate change to Australian biosecurity in the context both of Australia’s new federal biosecurity legislation (Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth)) and the investor-State dispute settlement provisions of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) particularly as they may impact the health and international human rights of Australia’s northerly indigenous populations.

Trade Policy in the Asia Pacific after Trans-Pacific Partnership

Asia-Pacific countries are building regional economic frameworks and rules designed to promote their economic growth and competitiveness, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Pacific Alliance, EU bilateral trade agreements, and China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Under President Trump, the United States abandoned TPP in favor of a bilateral approach, with little to show for it. The nonparticipation of the United States in emerging regional trade architecture and the leadership vacuum it has left will have significant commercial and geopolitical implications, not only for the U.S., but for its partners across the Asia-Pacific region.

Post TPP - Should Vietnam revise Internet copyright regulations?

To cope with the proliferation of online copyright piracy, a number of para-copyright regimes have been supplemented to the traditional copyright system. Among these lie the legal reinforcement of the right to use Digital Right Management technology (DRM) by copyright holders and ISP’s secondary liability regime for copyright infringement by users. Being one of the most “modern” trade deals, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement put these two regimes on the agenda with an aim to harmonize the copyright regimes among members (toward U.S. DMCA model). The suspension of four provisions on these supplement regimes in the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement is appreciated by the remaining eleven member states as it provides them with a higher level of flexibility in implementing their international commitments. For the case of Vietnam, the suspension does not mean a relief of obligations but an opportunity to review and revise their Internet copyright regulations. Based on the analysis of (i) technological, economic and legal foundations for the reinforcement of self-help remedy in the form of DRMs, (ii) experience in the development and implementation of DRM protection regime and ISP’s liability regime in Vietnam, and (iii) the meaning of the Internet copyright-related provisions in TTP; this article will provide certain policy implications for Vietnam when revising these provisions in order to (i) keep the balance between incentive to create and expansion of public access; (ii) avoid the abuse of copyright on the Internet and (iii) prepare better for the negotiation of similar modern FTA in the future.

The impact of participation in the comprehensive and progressive trans-pacific partnership agreement on exports: The case of Vietnam

The impact of participation in the comprehensive and progressive trans-pacific partnership agreement on exports: The case of Vietnam

Free Trade Agreements and Patterns of Trade in East Asia from the 1990s to 2010s

East Asia was slow in establishing free trade agreements (FTAs) compared to other parts of the world, where FTAs began to be actively formed in the late 1980s. Despite a slow start, East Asia quickly caught up with other regions in the FTA race. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been a main player in the FTA race in East Asia, as ASEAN enacted ASEAN Free Trade Area as early as 1993 and then in the 2000s enacted five ASEAN+1 FTAs, separately with China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. Economic as well as non-economic motives are found behind active establishment of FTAs by East Asian countries. Talks about establishing a region-wide FTA began in the early 2000s, but region-wide FTAs have not yet been formed. Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) covering 12 East Asian as well as Pacific countries was signed, but the US withdrawal from the TPP terminated the TPP process. Instead of the TPP, TPP11 or Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) without the USA was successfully negotiated and signed. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving 16 East Asian countries has been under negotiation but facing difficulty in reaching an agreement because of different views on various issues including market access among the negotiating members. Faced with growing protectionism in the world, it is important for RCEP and CPTPP to be enacted to keep the momentum toward trade liberalization. To successfully conclude the negotiations, compromise and strong political will of the leaders are needed. The paper also found that FTAs have contributed to promote trade between and among FTA members, contributing to the promotion of regional economic integration.

Can the Belt and Road Initiative Alleviate the Negative Impact of TPP on China

TPP is an important part of Asia-Pacific strategies of Obama Government. However, with the new President Trump taking office in the White House, the progress of TPP has met certain hindrance. Though Trump withdrew the United States from the TPP, it does not mean that TPP is completely aborted and traditional allies still negotiate on the signing of the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership （CPTPP）. How will the adjustment of TPP policy by the United States affect China? What economic benefits will the Belt and Road Initiative（BRI）that China put forward to counter potential impacts of TPP bring to the countries along the Belt and Road? Can BRI become an effective measure for China to counter TPP? Further, what kinds of differentiated industrial impacts will TPP and BRI bring to China and what kinds of challenges and opportunities? Analyses and discussions of these questions will be very helpful of enriching China’s strategies to counter TPP as well as accelerating the progress of BRI. With a Global Trade Analysis Project（GTAP）and the latest database GTAP 9.0, this paper quantitatively evaluates the economic effects of TPP and BRI in terms of the real GDP, the social welfare and the import and export trade. The study sets six policy scenarios centering on whether the U.S. should be back to TPP and how will China push forward BRI to selectively analyze benefits and losses of China under different macro-economic effects. The main conclusions of the paper are: （1）Judging from real GDP and residents’ welfare, China suffers from such strategy no matter the U.S. returns to TPP or not: in the scenario of GPTPP, the real GDP of China decreases 0.019% and the deterioration of residents’ welfare is USD4.111 billion; （2）Promotion of BRI is able to effectively alleviate the negative impacts of TPP on Chinese economy: when BRI and TPP both exist, the real GDP of China increases 0.055% and the improvement of residents’ welfare is USD11.465 billion; （3）From the perspective of unimpeded trade, promotion of BRI can stimulate outputs of energy-intensive industries of China, especially the textile and clothes industry, the steel and metal industry and the chemical industry, which is helpful to alleviate the problem of excess production capacities in the energy-intensive industries of China; （4）Implementation of BRI has strong negative impacts on South Korea, but if South Korea could participate in BRI, significance improvement can be realized in its economic growth and residents’ welfare. The marginal contributions of this paper can be elaborated from three aspects. First, this paper introduces both TPP and BRI to comparatively analyze international economic effects of different regional economic cooperation modes, which can provide a valuable technical reference for China to promote BRI in the context of TPP. Second, this paper provides a quantitative evaluation of the withdrawal of the U.S. from TPP, and the impact of the CPTPP on China is also discussed, which will be useful for China to adopt reasonable measures to cope with CPTPP. Third, the impacts of TPP on different countries or areas along the Belt and Road are quantitatively evaluated to reveal benefits and losses of these countries or areas under different TPP strategies, which is helpful of promoting those countries to participate in BRI to cope with the negative impacts of TPP.

Energy, Trade and Geopolitics in Asia: The Implications for Canada

Canada’s growing interest in trade with countries in the Indo-Pacific region corresponds with an ominous growth in geopolitical instability and insecurity in that part of the globe. With Indo-Pacific hunger for oil expected to soar – especially in China, where demand will translate to 80 per cent of imports in 10 years – Canada needs to develop policies to deal with the region’s turbulent realities. The Indo-Pacific comprises countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and includes such unstable and unpredictable players as North Korea and Pakistan, both of which have nuclear weapons and long-simmering border tensions. India is an emerging economic and military rival to China. In the next 20 years, China and India are expected to lead the global demand for gas as coal consumption continues to decline, and Canada has a stake in this prosperous future. Along with territorial squabbles in the region, Canada will have to deal with complex issues such as terrorism, human trafficking, transnational crime, piracy and cyber-crime, as well as the struggle for global dominance between China and the U.S. One key area for potential conflict is China’s recent construction and militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea. The Canadian government’s new military strategy, Strong, Secure, Engaged does little more than make a plea for peace and the rule of law in the South China Sea. However, more trade crosses the Pacific Ocean from Canada than crosses the Atlantic. And with Canada signing on to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the region’s troubles will need to be resolved by more than good intentions on paper. Canada must shift more diplomatic, security and military resources to the Indo-Pacific; otherwise, its efforts will be spread too thinly to be effective in the region. Trade, especially through a major route like the Strait of Malacca, could easily be disrupted by any one of a number of disputes, such as a conflict between China and Taiwan or if historic resentments boil over among competing territorial claimants in the region. Thus, Canada needs to step up and reaffirm its security commitments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a partner in the region. Participating in maritime exercises and Freedom of Navigation (FON) operations would also help to reinforce to countries in the region the importance of abiding by international law. Meanwhile, Canada should set aside for now any intentions to negotiate a free trade agreement with China. China does not share some of Canada’s key trade and security goals and its aggressive behaviour in the South and East China Seas clearly signal that now is not the time to talk about a trade pact. China must demonstrate that it is willing to take a more cooperative approach to resolving trade and security issues in the Indo-Pacific and to support and respect the rule of law in the region. Canada has the potential to become a reliable, stable source of energy for Indo-Pacific countries. There is also an opportunity for provinces such as Alberta to strike their own strategic deals to provide energy resources to countries in that region, in return for trade and investment benefits. However, while investing at home in the necessary infrastructure and export capability to expand its role, Canada must also strive to bring its own unique approach to enhancing regional and energy security in the Indo-Pacific.

Revolutionizing Global Supply Chains One Block at a Time: Growing International Trade with Blockchain Are International Rules Up to the Task?

Global supply chains are critical to the efficient functioning of the international trading system. Yet many supply chains suffer from inefficiencies and vulnerabilities. Blockchain is being heralded as a potential game-changing technology that could address these problems to make supply chains more robust and enable trade barriers to be overcome. However, the potential benefits of blockchain in global supply chains can only be realized if countries’ laws and regulations facilitate the technology’s implementation. To be truly revolutionary, the technology must be implemented globally, and this requires a supportive legal framework across jurisdictions. National requirements such as those that require data localization, or that restrict the cross-border flow of data, may be problematic in this regard. This paper explores potential regulatory barriers to the use of blockchain in supply chains with a view to identifying (i) what these barriers might be; and (ii) whether they could be addressed through international trade rules. By way of background, we explain what blockchain is and its potential benefits in supply chains. We then consider possible regulatory barriers to development of blockchain in a manner that will truly transform supply chains. This is followed by an examination of the extent to which these potential regulatory barriers are addressed in existing trade agreements, including the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Agreement. The latter Agreement has one of the most comprehensive E-Commerce chapters of any trade agreement to date. Finally, we consider the need for future work in the WTO or other fora to develop international rules that are supportive of the technology’s development.