ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) from its origins to the initial agreement. Despite fears of its demise with the Trump Administration withdrawing the USA from the agreement, the remaining 11 TPP countries have moved ahead to finalize a newly branded Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership largely comprising the original TPP text. The chapter concludes by noting that the US withdrawal from the TPP was a mixed blessing for the People’s Republic of China: it set back efforts to forge a US-China consensus on pathways to regional integration based on regional arrangements including the TPP and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, but it also opened the door for China to assert a more pronounced leadership role in the region via its own bilateral trade pacts and regional investment arrangements like the Belt and Road Initiative. In the short term, however, China is more likely to give priority to deepening its ties with its Asian neighbours before engaging the TPP.
