There has been a great deal of hype that the recently completed 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement represents the first 21st century trade deal. As details emerge with the actual text of the agreement, we can better judge those claims. But in the vital area of digital trade and rules for the Internet, the verdict is in: The agreement is a triumph for both the United States and the future of an open, competitive digital-trading system for the nations of the Asia-Pacific region.
Why is this important? First, the Trans-Pacific Partnership includes nations that encompass about 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, and almost one-third of world trade. With the successful conclusion of the negotiations, a number of other nations stand ready to join in coming years: Expressions of high interest have come from Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Colombia, among others. Thus at a minimum, the trade deal will set the rules for nations bordering the Pacific, with wide-ranging ripple effects throughout the wide world-trading system. Second, for the United States particularly, the establishment of precedent-setting free market rules for digital trade and the Internet is vital to future economic growth. Bolstered by new trade and investment models, seven of the top 10 Internet firms are based in the United States, and U.S. firms are the world’s biggest producers of information technology goods and services. In 2011, the U.S. International Trade Commission estimated that digital trade increased U.S. annual GDP by $517 to $710 billion (3.43 to 4.8 percent).
Read the full piece in US News & World Report.
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