The strategic value of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the consequences of abandoning it for the US role in Asia

The promotion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) represented a major component of the strategy of rebalancing. Through the TPP, the Obama administration aimed at achieving several objectives: (1) ‘locking in’ an America-friendly form of free market capitalism as the main normative platform for economic integration in the Asia Pacific region; (2) reaffirming Washington’s capacity to shape the rules and norms of the international order; (3) keeping the region open to US influence and preventing China from creating a network of international institutions based on its leadership. The likely rejection of the agreement would dramatically diminish the possibility of achieving those objectives, weakening the foundations of the US-led order in Asia