The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was a proposed trade agreement between a number of bourgeois states: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States. Easing the process of trade between nations and solidifying the profitability of participation on the international market was the main intent of the deal. The deal however, was never able to be ratified.

Initially drafted in October of 2015, the TPP was an expansion of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. The TPP was then signed and set to be ratified in February of 2016. However, new United States president Donald Trump withdrew the United States’ signature from the deal, striking a temporary blow to its foundation due to the US being the central economic power involved in the deal. Trump stated that the deal would “undermine” the US economy. Trump put forth his “America first” policy and signed a memorandum withdrawing the US from the TPP. There was a confusion of opinions among the US bipartisan bourgeoisie as to whether the withdrawal from the deal was good or not. Additionally, despite an apparent goal of the deal being to reduce the signatories’ dependence on Chinese trade and to bring the signatories closer to the United States, Trump still would not be satisfied unless the deal had overwhelming favorability and provisions for the US included. This shake-up led the remaining partners in the deal to renegotiate its terms under the banner of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

These changes to the deal have attracted the interest of China, who has said it would be willing to join. This has prompted pushback from the US state; which has asserted that the Chinese would be unwilling to make the necessary economic reforms; the Chinese state has said the contrary. The shouting match is a constant back and forth between competitors in the world market.

The US and China seek to be the dominant party of the CPTPP; the signatories of the agreement will benefit if either state enters the agreement, despite close allies of the US speaking out against China’s inclusion. Yet the fight over entry only veils the continued military conflict that has been building up between the two imperialist powers for decades. This conflict is currently smoldering, in the form of disputes over islands in the Pacific off the coast of the Chinese mainland. This competition for entry into the CPTPP is a passive analog to the impending armed conflict that will erupt between the US, China, and their respective proxies.

Ultimately the US would be interested in re-entering the agreement if the signatories would be willing to completely renegotiate the deal along the terms the US lays out. China’s willing entrance into the CPTPP is predicated on the success of the already existing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and a long process of liberalization in the Chinese domestic economy.

This buildup of economic agreements further illustrates the friction between the interests of the US and Chinese states, between two competing capitalist nations. The economic conflict prolongs the series of narrowly missed military conflict between China and the US allies that border it.

Even with the drama over entry into the agreement, signatories will continue to benefit from the low tariffs that the deal requires for participation. CPTPP countries continue the well oiled Asian economy by changing hats like indecisive teenagers. The Australian and New Zealand states have bemoaned entry of China into the CPTPP, despite entering into the new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with China on the November 15, 2020. These agreements only demonstrate the strategy of convenience that the bourgeoise of any country employs when it comes to the economic development of nations.