ABSTRACT
Negotiations for three partnerships of unprecedented scale are currently in the works. The first is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Discussions toward such a deal were launched in March 2010, and involved the United States together with 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The deal was signed on 4 February 2016, but its ratification is, as of his writing, jeopardized by the election of Donald Trump. The second is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a proposed treaty involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and six other Asian-Pacific countries – Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. Negotiations for RCEP began in May 2013. The third is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), between the United States and the 28 EU countries, whose negotiations began in July 2013 and had come to a halt at the end of 2016.
