Trading standards
If US president-elect Donald Trump pulls his country out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as he claimed he would earlier this week, he risks offending some much-needed allies in the Asia-Pacific region. However, as the only major Pacific Rim nation not part of the TPP, that would suit China just fine. A big part of the Obama administration’s support for the TPP was its belief that it would bring the Pacific nations closer together – and a little further from China’s orbit. Beijing is likely to see this as an opportunity to make its own trade deals in the region, comforted by the knowledge that the US has taken a step back. International trade deals may not be popular right now but Trump’s move may make the US poorer in the long-term.