Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Australia

Assignment: Essay 2 After seven years of negotiation, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed on February 4, 2016, with 12 countries participating. The United States withdrew its signature from the TPP on January 23, 2017. The 11 remaining participants nonetheless pushed forward with a slightly revised version of the deal, rebranding it as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The CPTPP entered into force on December 30th, 2018, thus establishing the third largest free-trade area in the world. Because the agreement is still very new, its effects are only just beginning to be felt. Your assignment is to adopt the position of one of the 11 signers of the CPTPP and determine whether the agreement is more likely to be beneficial to your country or harmful to your country overall. In formulating your essay, consider the following: • What exactly does the CPTPP do for your country? Is it merely about trade, or does it address other issue areas? What is its likely overall impact on tariffs and non-tariff barriers? • In what industries does you country have a comparative advantage (think factor endowments and Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory)? How might the CPTPP affect those industries? Will it increase exports? • How might the CPTPP affect the import of foreign goods and services into your country? Which of your domestic industries will most likely be impacted by imports (think Stolper-Samuelson vs. Ricardo-Viner)? Does the CPTPP allow you to protect any of these industries? • How might the CPTPP affect culture, intellectual property, the environment, public health, or other non-trade issues? Does the agreement include any special considerations, exceptions, or protections for your country? The following links will get you started: • http://infojustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/APEC-USTR-Fact-Sheet-on-TPP-112011.pdf • https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp • https://www.csis.org/analysis/tpp-cptpp • https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/03/12/what-on-earth-is-the-cptpp • For basic background information on your chosen country, see: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/ the-world-factbook/ Additional guidelines: • Avoid speculation. Your analysis should be rooted in verifiable facts, expert opinons, policy positions of reputable advocacy groups, and/or statements of public officials. Use a news archive tool like Factiva or Lexis-Nexis (both available via the UCD library) to scour recent stories from newspapers and newsmagazines. These tools will also allow you to search (in English) the newspapers of your chosen country. Note that the foreign ministry websites of most CPTPP member states include guidelines and policy statements on the TPP. For example: – Australia: https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/in-force/cptpp/Pages/comprehensive-and-pro gressive-agreement-for-trans-pacific-partnership.aspx – Japan: https://www.mofa.go.jp/ecm/ep/page25e 000266.html – New Zealand: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-i n-force/cptpp/comprehensive-and-progressive-agreement-for-trans-pacific-partnership-text-a nd-resources/ – Canada: https://www.international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux /agr-acc/cptpp-ptpgp/index.aspx – Malaysia: https://fta.miti.gov.my/index.php/pages/view/71 • Be sure to employ the concepts and terminology discussed in the lectures and course readings. This includes, for example, comparative/absolute advantage, factor endowments, Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory, protectionism (tariffs and NTBs), Stolper-Samuelson vs. Ricardo-Viner, and so on. Use these concepts to develop your analysis of the CPTPP. • Be sure to use reputable sources. Blog posts, Wikipedia articles, random websites, and similar low-quality sources are not acceptable. Examples of acceptable newspaper sources include The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, etc., as well as major international newspapers, such as Japan Times, Herald Sun (Australia), Globe and Mail (Canada), etc. Examples of acceptable newsmagazines include Bloomberg, The Economist, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Forbes, etc. Policy journals with an international focus, such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Quarterly are also excellent resources. Consult with your TA if you have concerns about a particular source. Your essay should incorporate 4-5 high-quality sources beyond the course readings and those listed above. • All sources must be meticulously and thoroughly documented, including assigned course readings. Any reference to a source must be properly cited. See this link for guidance: https://ossja.ucdavis.edu/preventing-plagiarism. Be sure to include a separate list of references. (The list of references is not included in the word count.) Any instance of suspected plagiarism will be immediately referred to the UC Davis Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs. • Essays must be approximately 1,500 words in length, ± 100 words. Only typed essays will be accepted. Please use a standard 10–12pt font with 1” margins. You may use whichever style guide you prefer (APSA, MLA, Chicago, APA, etc), but do use a style guide. (NB: Your TA may request a specific style guide.) • Essays should be logically and coherently organized, with an introduction, a conclusion, and a specific thesis statement. The writing should be clear, concise, and free of grammatical errors. Excessive errors will lower your grade. • Essays are due no later than March 13th at 5pm. Essays must be submitted electronically, via the Canvas assignment module for Essay 2. We will not accept hard copies or emailed papers. You are welcome to submit your paper as far in advance of the deadline as you’d like. Be sure that you upload the correct, final version of your essay. Once you’ve uploaded the file, it cannot be changed. • Late papers will be docked one full letter grade per day. (E.g., a grade of 91% will be reduced to 81%.) This penalty begins at 5:01pm on the due date and recurs every 24 hours thereafter. All late papers will be penalized, regardless of the reason for lateness. UC Davis has many computing resources. A computer glitch, hard drive failure, or wifi malfunction is not an acceptable justification for lateness. It is your responsibility to ensure you have reliable internet access. If you expect to encounter scheduling or other issues around the due date, you should arrange to complete and submit your paper in advance of the deadline. Essays will be graded according to the following rubric: • Shows sufficient background knowledge of the CPTPP and the selected country, and shows a general conceptual understanding of the CPTPP’s basic goals and likely impacts on tariffs/NTBs • With reference to specific industries, the essay uses basic trade theory (e.g., Heckscher-Ohlin, Stolper-Samuelson, Ricardo-Viner) to explain (1) how the CPTPP will likely affect industries in which the selected country has a comparative advantage, (2) how the CPTPP will likely affect industries that compete with imports, and (3) whether the CPTPP allows protection for vulnerable industries • Considers some plausible impacts of the CPTPP on non-trade areas, such as culture, IP, the environment, public health, etc., with specific reference to areas of importance to the selected country • Uses appropriate sources where needed, such as reputable newspapers and newsmagazines, and does not use inappropriate sources (e.g., Wikipedia) • Meets expectations for grammar, spelling, writing style, and word count • Includes citations for all referenced material