TPP, TTIP and One Belt One Road

The Transpacific Partnership is mainly about adding Japan to the decades old North American Free Trade Agreement.

Tariff levels in developed countries are at about 1.5% or less.

China’s average tariff is about 3.5%.

Undeveloped countries typically have tariffs of about 8-15%.

The US is trying negotiate a trade agreement with Europe. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, with the aim of promoting multilateral economic growth. The American government considers the TTIP a companion agreement to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. After a proposed draft was leaked in March 2014, the European Commission launched a public consultation on a limited set of clauses and in January 2015 published parts of an overview. If an agreement is to be made, it is not expected to be finalized before 2016.

China also has trade negotiations but they are focusing on global infrastructure.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a development strategy and framework, proposed by People’s Republic of China that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily in Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt” (SREB) and oceangoing “Maritime Silk Road” (MSR). The strategy underlines China’s push to take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need to export China’s production capacity in areas of overproduction such as steel manufacturing.

China plan is to boost trade and economic activity by building the physical trade infrastructure via rail, ports and pipelines. They are building up the cities, factories and energy infrastructure of trade partners. They are boosting the capacity of partners to buy and consume and building the volume and speed of goods, commodities and people to move between partners.