U.S. Allies to Sign Sweeping Trade Deal in Challenge to Trump
“And that stability does not appear to be coming from the United States, where policy seems to shift at a moment’s notice.”
Japan, which has the largest economy among the remaining trade partners and played a leadership role in keeping the coalition of 11 countries together, is still holding out hopes
that the United States might return to the pact, under either Mr. Trump or a subsequent administration.
The new agreement — known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership — will drop tariffs drastically and establish sweeping new trade rules in markets
that represent about a seventh of the world’s economy.
“It’s hard to ignore rules that everyone else is agreeing to,
and they will probably look carefully at these rules,” said Wendy Cutler, a former United States trade negotiator who worked on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and is now managing director of the Washington office of the Asia Society Policy Institute.
A group of 11 nations — including major United States allies like Japan, Canada and Australia — is set to sign a broad trade deal on Thursday
that challenges Mr. Trump’s view of trade as a zero-sum game filled with winners and losers.
By MOTOKO RICH and ERNESTO LONDOÑOMARCH 8, 2018
TOKYO — A trade pact originally conceived by the United States to counter China’s growing
economic might in Asia now has a new target: President Trump’s embrace of protectionism.
