Scope for China to join up to TPP, says Steve Ciobo

Trade Minister Steven Ciobo says there is scope for China to join up to the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Steve Ciobo argued this morning that the Turnbull government would continue to keep alive the option of ratifying the TPP by putting it to a vote in the Australian parliament. Picture: AAP

Trade Minister Steve Ciobo says there is scope for China to join up to the Trans Pacific Partnership after Donald Trump signed an executive order overnight formally putting an end to US participation in the trade pact.

Despite Mr Trump signing the order, Mr Ciobo argued this morning that the Turnbull government would continue to keep alive the option of ratifying the TPP by putting it to a vote in the Australian parliament and accused Labor of turning its back on the decades long bipartisan political consensus on free trade.

Mr Trump, who has also pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement signed the executive order withdrawing the US from the TPP, declaring it to be a “great thing for the American worker.”

The TPP was a 12 nation Pacific-wide trade deal that covered more than 40 per cent of the global GDP and included the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Brunei.

Responding to Mr Trump’s move on ABC radio this morning, Mr Ciobo said there was the prospect of keeping alive a deal between the 11 other signatory nations and held out the prospect of expanding the deal to include other nations like China and Indonesia.

“A number of us had a conversation about a possible TPP 12 minus one — in other words, the Trans Pacific Partnership minus the United States in order to keep holds of the gains we’ve been able to agree,” Mr Ciobo said.

He confirmed talks to this end had taken place with Canada, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia and that Chile and Peru were also discussing the prospect of salvaging a “TPP minus one” agreement.

Mr Ciobo said Mr Trump’s plan to renegotiate aspects of NAFTA could also have implications on the kind of deal that could be struck with Canada and Mexico under a “TPP minus one” type arrangement.

“It’s a moving space, but it’s an important space (and) one we must continue to pursue,” he said.

Pressed on whether China could take the place of America, Mr Ciobo said there was the prospect of expanding the trade pact to include other member nations.

“The original architecture was to enable other countries to join,” he said. “Certainly I know that Indonesia has expressed a possible interest. And there would be scope for China if we’re able to reformulate it to be a TPP 12 minus one for countries like Indonesia or China or indeed other countries to consider joining.”

Mr Ciobo said the government would not rule out the prospect of ratifying the TPP in the parliament despite the actions of Mr Trump in killing off US participation in the trade pact.

“What we’re going to do ... is keep that option alive,” he said. “We’re not going to be like Bill Shorten and the Labor Party and walk away from this deal because it requires now a little bit of elbow grease.”

“Obviously, when the time is right we’ll look at the best way forward. But ... we’re not going to walk away from pursuing high quality trade deals that are good for Australian exporters.”

“I just want to take this chance to reinforce how poor that leadership is from the Opposition, that they would break what has been effectively a bipartisan consensus for decades that has in many respects underpinned Australia’s economic growth.”

Hockey: move helps Australian farmers

At a luncheon later in New York, Mr Ciobo said he didn’t “subscribe to the sometimes-reported view that President Trump is anti-trade”. “There is nothing unusual about a government wanting trade deals to be in their national interest. I want trade deals that are in Australia’s national interest,” he said in a speech an event hosted by the American Australia Association.

Mr Ciobo pointed approvingly to recent remarks by US Treasury Secretary designate Steve Mnuchin, who said Mr Trump was “very much interested in free and fair trade”. “This is not about limiting imports, this is about growing exports,” Mr Mnuchin said in his Senate testimony last week.

Ambassador Joe Hockey, also in attendance, said the US withdrawal from the TPP had indirectly helped Australian farmers. “Effectively what the president did today was give us a great advantage in beef exports to Japan,” Mr Hockey said, noting Japanese tariffs on beef would remain high for the US exporters.

Clare: final nail in the coffin

Opposition Trade spokesman Jason Clare said that Mr Trump had put the “final nail in the coffin of the TPP” by issuing the executive order formally withdrawing the US from the deal.

“This executive order means the TPP is now officially dead,” Mr Clare said. “Malcolm Turnbull’s credibility is not in much better shape.”

“Last week he announced that his big economic plan for the year was to introduce legislation to implement the TPP. Donald Trump’s executive order today means Malcolm Turnbull’s big economic plan is also dead. It would have no effect at all.”

Mr Clare said the order made a mockery of suggestions that Mr Turnbull had the capacity to change Mr Trump’s mind about the TPP.

“It’s time for Malcolm Turnbull to wake up and move on, and develop a real economic plan for Australia.”