TPP members may go ahead without US, says minister

By Stephanie AugustinNovember 23, 2016

ricky l

17 seconds ago

“Nevertheless, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in Lima, Peru, over last weekend, the 11 other member nations agreed that they wanted to proceed with the TPP even without the US.”
Ong said that for now, the TPP members would have to explore if it was possible to amend the clause to take the US out of the equation or reduce the percentage of GDP required.
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It is great news that it is unanimous for the 11 TPP members to go ahead to sign the TPP without US.

It is easier to reduce the percentage of GDP required rather than to take out the US out of equation for 2 reasons :-
(1) there will be too many clause referencing to US - and by taking out US, it will mean re-negotiating the whole TPP again. It will take too long to ratify the TPP.

(2) who knows that US may change its mind after the new Administration took office and discover the TPP is in fact a good deal that favor US and want to rejoin.

ricky l

14 seconds ago

If it is possible to flip-flop issues 6 times on its position within a press interview, who knows the new Administration will discover that it is a big mistake to dump the TPP realising that it has to negotiate bilateral deals 11 times and find that it benefit less in the bi-lateral deals as oppose to the multi-lateral deal of TPP that involve 12 members with a unified market.

TPP is a market place with economies of scale.

Bi-lateral deals with 11 countries will be time-consuming to negotiate - 11 times and by the time 4 years will be up - while RCEP trade deal that will be ratified next years will be 4 years ahead.

So who will be hurt most?

US businesses ! And I believe US businesses will make hell lot of noise banging at the White House doors when they discover that US businesses are losing out in the market. What is the use of pulling back their companies into US - when they are not able to sell their products and services to a 6 billion World Market and they have to be contend with only a 500 million people market?

There are alot of substitute products and services out there that can be found in RCEP members and at a very competitive price.

ricky l

13 seconds ago

If position can change for the climatic deal - so that Americans will not have to breathe smog, haze and poisonous gas.

It position can change from wall to fencing.

If position can change that Clinton will not be charged when FBI clear her from charges.

If position can change from repealing the Obamacare - to keeping Obamacare as 20 million Americans like it.

----- It is also possible to discover that TPP in fact benefit Americans tremendously after reading through the TPP agreement - and find that negotiating bi-lateral deals 11 times will be too time-consuming and will not benefit from the big unified marketplace of TPP - where by the time bi-lateral deals are being negotiated, 4 years passed by and US businesses is dying or have already dieded - since the 11 TPP members will have already prosper and benefited from RCEP trade deal.

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  ricky l

  13 seconds ago

  By calculation, the 11 TPP members have a GDP market of about US$10 trillion as oppose to with US - then it will be US$$27.64 Trillion.
  
  But it still a good deal with US$10 trillion to trade - as it cut across 3 continents :-
  (1) Trans-Asia Pacific
  (2) Trans-Northern America
  (3) Trans-Latin America

TPP members may go ahead without US, says minister

By Stephanie AugustinNovember 23, 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — Malaysia and the remaining 10 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) signatory countries may choose to amend a clause so the multilateral pact may proceed without the United States, said Second International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan.

“There is a clause that there need to be at least six member countries and these must account for 85 per cent of collective gross domestic product (GDP) of the original 12 signatories,” he told reporters after launching a conference organised by Malaysia Steel Institute.

“The US alone represents 60 per cent of TPP members’ total GDP, which means the agreement is null and void without them.

“Nevertheless, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in Lima, Peru, over last weekend, the 11 other member nations agreed that they wanted to proceed with the TPP even without the US.”

Ong said that for now, the TPP members would have to explore if it was possible to amend the clause to take the US out of the equation or reduce the percentage of GDP required.

Although he held out hope that President-elect Donald Trump would not put TPP on ice on his first day at the Oval Office on January 20, he said global trade would still need multilateral and bilateral free-trade agreements (FTAs) to thrive.

“It’s too bad that America, which calls itself a leading nation, may be left behind as the rest of the world forms FTAs and trade pacts to grow international trade,” he said

On Trump’s preference for bilateral FTAs as the way forward as opposed to multilateral FTAs like the TPP, Ong said bilateral agreements might seem easier as there were only two countries to take into consideration but they were time-consuming and made less headway than multilateral FTAs.