With TPP Dead, China Officially Launches Its Own Pacific Free-Trade Deal

As we noted on Thursday, “it was ludicrous for Obama to leave China out of things. China is the second biggest economy in the world, third if you treat the EU as a block. Had China been in the deal all along, we may not have seen the ludicrous provision that allowed companies to sue governments. That provision was one of the key reasons the deal failed. With the election of Trump, TPP is officially dead. China, not the US, will be at the center of a new Asian trade pact.”
Furthermore, as Mish Shedlock pointed out, on November 10, in the wake of Trump’s election, Beijing quickly sought to fill the void left by TPP by reviving its proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific pact.
“Xi Jinping is rekindling efforts to promote a rival to the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory, Chinese officials said on Thursday. With Mr Xi set to travel to Peru this month for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, Li Baodong, vice-foreign minister, said China’s plan could fill the void. Chinese officials have previously sought to promote the proposal at Apec, only to encounter resistance from US officials who wanted to prioritise TPP negotiations.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Nov 19, 2016.