A large part of the 21st century China’s rise has to do with its indispensability to global trade. But Japan is a trading heavyweight too, and with the United States charting an isolationist path under President Donald Trump, Tokyo has taken up the global trade mantle with vigour and some success. This week, the 11 remaining members of a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that Mr. Trump had pulled the U.S. out of solved their differences at talks held in Tokyo. The announcement of the CPTPP comes on the heels of another gigantic trade deal that Tokyo recently concluded with the European Union. Global trading orderIn the post-Second World War-era, Japan has benefited greatly from the U.S.-led and U.S.-devised international trading order.

Source: The Hindu January 27, 2018 16:18 UTC