Trans-Pacific Partnership versus Comprehensive Economic Partnership: Control of Membership and Agenda Setting

Shintaro Hamanaka ()
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Shintaro Hamanaka: Asian Development Bank, Postal: 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550, Metro Manila, Philippines

No 146, Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration from Asian Development Bank

Abstract: This paper argues that the formation of regional integration frameworks can be best understood as a dominant state’s attempt to create a preferred regional framework in which it can exercise exclusive influence. In this context, it is important to observe not only which countries are included in a regional framework, but also which countries are excluded from it. For example, the distinct feature of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is its exclusion of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and that of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is its exclusion of the United States. An exclusion of a particular country does not mean that the excluded country will perpetually remain outside the framework. In fact, TPP may someday include the PRC, resulting from a policy of the United States “engaging” or “socializing” the PRC rather than “balancing” against it. However, the first step of such a policy is to establish a regional framework from which the target country of engagement is excluded.

Keywords: free trade agreements (FTAs); Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP); Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP); membership; exclusion; agenda setting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 F15 F53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2014-12-01
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:adbrei:0146

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