Five years in the making and involving 40 percent of world’s trade, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been signed between United States and 11 other countries, namely, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Brunei, concerning over 800 million people.
The deal is a thinly-disguised attempt by the United States to encircle China and cripple its plan for One Belt, One Road (OBOR) which aims to integrate Asia by the Asians for the overall growth of the region. US, who finds it economic, political and military grip on Asia slipping, have thrown its last dice. Other nations have primarily agreed to invest in US’ crumbling proposition.
Don’t take my word alone for it. No less than President Barack Obama claimed to Wall Street Journal: “If we don’t write the rules, China will write the rules,” Senator Charles E. Schumer has professed the deal’s stated goal is to “lure” other countries “away from China.” A prominent US columnist has described the deal as a “comprehensive trade pact that could help cement our dominance over China in Asia.”