Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): What’s at Stake and What Does it Mean for the Global Trading System?

Global Economic Governance was established in 2003 to foster research and debate into how global markets and institutions can better serve the needs of people in developing countries.

Global Economic Governance Programme

Agreed in October 2015, the TPP is a historic moment for the global trading system. It includes twelve countries representing about 35 per cent of the global economy and is one of the most ambitious trade deals ever signed, aiming to write new rules for the 21st century global economy. The public policy implications are substantial and range from the levels of patent protection that should be given to pharmaceutical companies;  the extent to which trade rules should be allowed to limit government involvement in the economy; whether and to what extent foreign companies should have the right to take governments to international arbitration; and the extent to which labour and environmental standards should be enforced through trade agreements. The TPP is as much about geopolitics as trade, as the goal for the US and Japan (the two biggest countries in the TPP) was to create an economic zone in the Pacific Rim that might balance Beijing’s presence in the region. It has important ramifications for the global trading system, as it comes at a time of economic malaise and stalled multilateral negotiations at the World Trade Organisation. Given its high stakes, it is perhaps unsurprising that TPP has been highly divisive, with firms, trade unions, farmers and civil society activists lobbying hard to shape outcomes. 
Our two experts will brief us on the public policy implications of the TPP and what it means for the global trading system. 
Chair: Emily Jones, Associate Professor, Blavatnik School of Government
Speakers: 
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Ricardo Melendez Otriz, CEO of the International Centre for Sustainable Trade and Development
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Datuk J. Jayasiri, Chief Negotiator for the TPP for Malaysia
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Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

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