China has made a formal application to enter the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a transpacific trade pact originally designed by Washington to limit Beijing’s growing economic and political influence in the region, reports the Financial Times.
The predecessor of the CPTPP was the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement signed in 2016 by the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and seven other countries. It was originally negotiated by then US president Barack Obama to ensure that Washington, rather than Beijing, maintained its influence over regional trade and investment rules.
His successor Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2017, leaving Japan to spearhead its reformation into the CPTPP, which came into force the following year.
