China applies to join Pacific free trade pact shunned by Trump
BEIJING — China has applied to join an 11-nation Asia-Pacific free trade group in an effort to increase its influence over international policies.
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao submitted an application to the trade minister of New Zealand as a representative of the Comprehensive and Progress Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Chinese Commerce Ministry announced Thursday.
The CPTPP originally was the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a group promoted by then-President Obama as part of Washington’s increased emphasis on relations with Asia. China was not included in the initial group, and former President Trump pulled the U.S. out in 2017.
The Biden administration has not moved to have the U.S. rejoin the group.
An official Chinese newspaper, Global Times, said the application cements Beijing’s “leadership in global trade” and leaves the United States “increasingly isolated.”
The CPTPP, which took effect in 2018, includes agreements on market access, movement of labor and government procurement.
One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was to pull the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-nation free-trade deal that President Obama negotiated but left unfinished.
Other members include Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Britain is negotiating to join. If China joins, that would quadruple the total population within the group to some 2 billion people.
China’s government has promised to increase imports of goods but faces complaints that it is failing to carry out promises made when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 to open finance and other service industries.
China is also a member of various other trade agreements, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which includes many nations in Asia that are not part of the CPTPP.
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