Claremont, California ¨C When U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in January, many observers saw that decision as a boon for China. If so, it may not last.
The conventional wisdom is based on simple economic and geopolitical logic. China has become every other Asian country¡¯s largest trading partner, inexorably gaining strategic leverage as a result. As China¡¯s neighbors grow increasingly dependent on the Chinese market, the logic suggests, America¡¯s influence in the region will gradually decline.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama¡¯s administration understood the far-reaching geopolitical consequences of China¡¯s economic dominance in East Asia. Obama and his advisers had hoped that, by creating a new U.S.-centered trading bloc, the TPP would counter China¡¯s clout and preserve American military and economic primacy in the world¡¯s most dynamic region.
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