Trans - Pacific Partnership Agreement And The Asia - Pacific Trade System Environment

Since the Obama administration came to power in2008, U.S has launched thestrategy of ‘Asia-Pacific rebalancing’, of which restore its leadership economically inAsia-Pacific was an important part. In November2009, U.S. President Barack Obamaofficially announced to participate in the TPP negotiations, which had gained wideattention in the region. By now, the TPP has12member states, their trade volumeaccount for more than a quarter of the total amount of world trade.How did TPP become the dominant trade arrangement in Asia-Pacific in a relativelyshort time? Previous Scholars used to analyze this question from TPP member states’motivation. In this paper, I argue that the answer mainly lies in the institutionalenvironment in this region. The end of cold war has seen a surge in establishingdifferent kinds of trade institutions in Asia-Pacific. However, the regional integrationis mainly driven by market, the institutionalization level of the trade mechanisms arerelatively low.Meanwhile, the established institutions are so fragmented that they canhardly pose any restrictions on member states. The institutionanarchy has provided agood opportunity for U.S. to promote its TPP strategy.As a high standard and comprehensive trade agreement, if TPP concluded successfully,itwill not only create a new standard for regional and multinational trade negotiations,but is also likely to change the architecture of trade institutions in this region. Underthe influence TPP, ASEAN has started the negotiation process of RCEP, which hasintensified regional competition. Considering TPP negotiations have excluded Chinaso far, China should speed up its own strategic layout of regional trade institutions,and try to weaken U.S’s influence in Asia-Pacificas far as possible.