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The CPTPP is one of the world's largest free-trade areas by gross domestic product (GDP).
In a 2020 survey of 269 Philippine and Republic of Korean (RoK) firms on their views about potential CPTPP accession, commissioned by a fellow at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, over 70 percent of exporters reported having heard about the CPTPP; of these, export-driven online sellers that already sell to the CPTPP market are especially enthused by CPTPP accession as a means to help secure new customers (45 percent), grow export sales (41 percent), diversify into new markets (39 percent), and sell more online (29 percent).
Philippine firms, in particular, believe that the agreement could also promote inbound and outbound investment. RoK firms are also enthusiastic about the CPTPP – even though the RoK already has 17 free trade deals that encompass 56 countries. A substantial set – 43 percent of online seller-exporters and 29 percent of other exporters – also agree that it would be beneficial for their country to enter into a trade agreement that does not include China (as opposed to the 10-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, which both the RoK and the Philippines signed recently). While non-exporters in the RoK and the Philippines often do not know about the CPTPP, both non-exporters and exporters in these countries agree that the RCEP will not suffice for satisfying their growth aspirations. These data suggest that companies in prospective member countries are hungry for new agreements with better rules than the RCEP’s non-binding e-commerce provisions.
Advantages of membership
The UK, China and Chinese Taipei have already applied to join the 2018 agreement that brings together the Pacific Rim countries of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. These countries’ combined economies represent 13.4 percent of global GDP, making the CPTPP one of the world's largest free-trade areas by GDP.
The surveyed firms in the Philippines and the RoK – and especially small online sellers that use data intensively – regard the CPTPP’s e-commerce provisions such as free data transfer, ban on server localization, promotion of consumer privacy and protection, and liberalization of services as especially beneficial for their businesses. Some 47 percent of online seller-exporters see the CPTPP’s provisions on free data transfer across borders as “very beneficial” for their businesses; 37 percent see self-regulation among businesses to manage data as “very beneficial”; and 35 percent find the CPTPP’s ban on server localization and the ability to store their data where they wish as “very beneficial,” with another 37 percent seeing this as “somewhat beneficial.” The survey also suggests that firms see the CPTPP’s commitment to protecting consumer privacy and shielding consumers from spam as important to the growth of their e-commerce sales.
The CPTPP is emerging as an attractive trade deal for many countries around the world. The interest in joining is motivated by several reasons, including (1) the rise of China’s share in the import baskets of both CPTPP members and nonmembers; (2) in the UK’s case, by a drive to operationalize its post-Brexit “Global Britain” strategy; and (3) as the indicative survey data suggest, by interest on the part of firms in such member economies as the RoK and the Philippines in CPTPP’s deep liberalization and high-quality e-commerce provisions to open new markets, set clear rules of the game for digital trade, and preempt data localization.
Japan and other members are urging the US to join the deal, which would make the CPTPP a powerful counterweight to China, attract further members, and significantly advance US interests. However, the Biden Administration has so far avoided such a move.
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