Trans-Pacific Partnership

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), was a proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States. In the US, the proposal was signed on February 4, 2016 but not ratified as a result of significant domestic political opposition; both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump opposed the agreement during their 2016 presidential campaigns; however, Hillary Clinton was originally in support. After taking office, President Trump formally withdrew the United States from the TPP in January 2017, ensuring it could not be ratified as required and did not enter into force. The remaining countries negotiated a new trade agreement called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which incorporated most of the provisions of its predecessor and entered into force on 30 December 2018.

The TPP began as an expansion of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP or P4), signed by Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore in 2005. Beginning in 2008, eight additional countries joined negotiations to broaden the agreement, eventually forming the 12-member TPP. Following the US's withdrawal, the remaining countries decided in May 2017 to revive the TPP, reaching a revised agreement, the CPTPP, in January 2018 and signing it in March 2018. The new agreement came into effect for those countries in December that year after ratification by six of them (Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore).

The original TPP contained measures to lower both non-tariff and tariff barriers to trade, and establish an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. The U.S. International Trade Commission, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the World Bank and the Office of the Chief Economist at Global Affairs Canada stated that the final agreement, if ratified, would have led to net positive economic outcomes for all signatories. Many observers at the time said the trade deal would also have served a geopolitical purpose, reducing the signatories' dependence on Chinese trade and bring them closer to the United States.