On 11 November, on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in Vietnam, 11 countries on the Pacific Rim decided to go ahead with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) despite the withdrawal of the United States on the third day after Donald Trump took office.

The deal was renamed the “Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)” to reflect the new consensus that had emerged after the four rounds of negotiation since the US withdrawal. Is the CPTPP still a “high-quality agreement”? Will it be finally ratified this time around?

… Pradumna B. Rana is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the International Political Economy Programme in the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Ji Xianbai is a PhD candidate at RSIS holding the Nanyang President’s Graduate Scholarship.