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Authors: Galina Kostyunina, Professor, Department of International Economic Relations and Foreign
Economic Ties, School of International Economic Relations, Moscow State Institute (University) of In-
ternational Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Science (Eco-
nomics)
Vladimir Baronov, Honorary Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Professor, Moscow State University
of Management of the Government of Moscow, Candidate of Science (Law)
THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP)
agreement was signed in October 2015 by 12
member countries of Asia-Pacific Economic Co-
operation (APEC) - Australia, Brunei, Canada,
Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.
The TPP is a brainchild of the United States,
which was concerned about its declining influence
on the economies and politics of Asia-Pacific
countries. The United States sees the TPP as an instrument for achieving its long-term goal of
bringing into being the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), an agreement
whose signatory countries would be fewer in number than The United States, Japan, and Canada
are the main exporters in the TPP.
Exports from some TPP countries to other signatories were worth $2,074.8 billion in 2014, ac-
counting for 47.4% of the 12 countries' total exports for that year.
The TPP countries are recipients of 28% of the world's total FDI. The main recipients are the
United States, Singapore and Canada, which together received 62.1% of the total FDI into the
TPP countries in 2014.
The TPP contains a strict definition of the country of origin of a product that sets value-added
minimums at between 30% and 55% depending on the type of product. This threatens Viet-
namese and Malaysian manufacturers, which buy comparatively cheap ingredients in China, Laos,
Cambodia or Myanmar.
The TPP has a separate section on trade in information technology products. It makes it binding
on its signatories to sign the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and to lift restric-
tions on the storage and freedom of transmission of information. The TPP bans protectionist
measures concerning the localization of servers, and mandates prosecution of hacking.
Sections on the liberalization of trade in agricultural goods are a special part of the TPP. This is
a very sensitive form of liberalization for countries where the state heavily subsidizes agriculture,
including directly subsidizing agricultural exports.
The TPP prescribes that its signatories take part in the WTO process of hammering out a com-
mon position on state agricultural exporters and agricultural export loans.
Protectionist barriers, if used by TPP countries, must comply with their commitments under a
Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Key Points and Potential Effects