Trump Policy Could Leave U.S. Odd Man Out In Asia Trade

An alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership that has been in the wings for years – one that unlike the T.P.P. includes China – is poised to take center stage, and the United States will be conspicuously absent, notes an article in the New York Times. The agreement is called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. If it comes to fruition, it is likely to strengthen China’s military as well as its economic clout, or so it looks to China’s Asian neighbors, according to the article: “Since 2011, trade negotiators from China, Japan, Australia, India and 12 other Asian nations have been meeting several times a year to stitch together the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. And with Mr. Trump’s victory, those efforts are almost certain to accelerate.”