Symposium: Australia–US Economic Relations and the Regional Balance of PowerAustralia, the United States and the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Diverging Interests and Unintended Consequences

Abstract

When the talks for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were launched in 2010, there appeared to be a coincidence of interests between the American and Australian governments in negotiating a high-quality, '21st-century' trade arrangement that would multilateralise the bilateral and minilateral trade agreements that have proliferated in the Asia-Pacific region in the last 15 years. As the negotiations progressed, however, a divergence between American and Australian interests became apparent. Protectionist interests in the United States have prevented the administration from improving on market access agreements in the current preferential trade agreements with TPP partners, thereby undermining the multilateralisation objective. Some of the elements of the US template for 21st-century trade agreements, notably enhanced protection for intellectual property, and the inclusion of investor-state dispute resolution, clash with Australian trade priorities. Moreover, the central role of the TPP in the US 'pivot to Asia' has led to perceptions that it is part of a strategy to encircle China: consequently the TPP may force Australia to make the very choice between China and the United States that the government wishes to avoid.

The politics of Australia's withdrawal from Iraq

“…Similarly, Downer argued that the alliance would not have collapsed if Australia had not followed the US into Iraq, but 'Australia would have just become a bit player in global events' and the US 'wouldn't have had any particular interest in Australia' (cited in Banham 2008). Australia did not significantly benefit from its involvement in the Iraq War and the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, which came into force in 2005 (Capling and Ravenhill 2013). The more interesting point, however, is that there was much debate over the potential consequences of Australia's withdrawal for relations with the US, but virtually no discussion about the impact of the withdrawal on relations with the Islamic world, with the Middle East or with Iraq.…”