Labor joins Coalition in backing larger trade deal to replace TPP

Written on the 21 November 2016

Labor has signalled its support for the concept of a much larger trade agreement than the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Turnbull government has sent similar signals after the election of Donald Trump, given the likely failure of the TPP.

A new consensus is emerging in Canberra in the lead-up to a meeting this weekend of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group in Peru.

The trade minister, Steve Ciobo, is already at the Apec summit, and the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, left for Peru on Thursday night.

Ciobo travelled to the meeting prepared to talk seriously to China about a relatively unknown trade deal, called the Free Trade Area of Asia Pacific, which is being advanced by the Chinese government.

The FTAAP would involve 21 countries, making it much larger than the 12-country TPP.

One widely cited study estimates the gains from FTAAP would be eight times that of the TPP close to $2tn, or roughly 2% of world gross domestic product in 2025.

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Source:  The Guardian