Cooperation could make both China and US great again

The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is dead, at least for the time being. But instead of dissecting US President Donald Trump’s problematic trade policies, many are quick to point out that it will create a rare opportunity for China, especially in pursuing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, in which the United States is not participating.

Indeed, many Chinese may have heaved a sigh of relief or even felt like celebrating when Trump signed the executive order on Jan 23 to withdraw the US from the TPP. But this was largely because the TPP had been aggressively sold by former president Barack Obama as a geopolitical tool against China, part of his rebalancing to Asia strategy. It is hard to remember all the times Obama repeated such toxic rhetoric as “we can’t let countries like China write the rules of global economy”, given how many times he expressed such sentiments.

The problem with the TPP was exactly it was promoted more as a means to wrestle economic influence in the region from China rather than a free trade deal. Does that mean that even Obama was not sure about TPP’s economic benefits, so he had to peddle it to lawmakers and to the US public by scaremongering about China?

China and the US should find common ground and pursue win-win cooperation rather than indulging in zero-sum thinking.