If Washington doesn’t strengthen economic ties with its partners in Asia, Beijing will.
However loudly U.S. politicians vow to compete with China, they seem happy to quit the field and let Beijing win in one crucial area: trade. If President Joe Biden hopes to build a coalition in Asia to counterbalance China’s rise, he can’t afford such defeatism. U.S. allies such as Japan are especially eager to see the U.S. join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) — the 11-nation free-trade agreement that in its original form was intended to cement U.S. ties to Asia. Yet administration officials continue to dodge questions about the deal. At the same time, according to Bloomberg News, China has begun exploratory talks on its own possible accession. China probably wouldn’t be asking if the U.S. were a member of the pact. The CPTPP has strong rules on subsidies, data flows, and labor and environment protections. Membership on those terms would require China to undertake far-reaching reforms, addressing several of the main concerns about its trading practices. The U.S. would have been able to block China’s entry if it didn’t trust Chinese pledges and could have held Beijing to account if it subsequently flouted the rules.
