With TPP’s immanent floundering in the Pacific, China attempts to step into America’s shoes. But, those are big shoes to fill. As big of a deal as Asia thinks itself to be, any trade deal needs to include the Americas or it really isn’t worth writing headlines about—or even the agreement papers. China’s current proposal to replace TPP with a pure-Asia trade agreement is called “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)”—again, with an introspective worldview evident in the name, not identifying which “region” is involved because the region is presumed by those in it. RCEP won’t even make a dent in the ocean.
Instead, Trump still dominates the headlines. Japanese President, Shinzo Abe thinks Trump is “trustworthy”. He met with the president elect at Trump Tower.
Other than Trump and trade, the rest of the news reset itself to stories questioning China’s economy. Metal is up for suspicious reasons. Apple isn’t that great and wasn’t going to be that great anyway. And, China is already spying on us through their cell phones. It almost seems that newspapers agree with Trump about having more mobile phones made in the USA.
Shinzo Abe says Trump ‘trustworthy’ | Taipei Times
China eyes regional trade deal void left by Trump’s win | SCMP
Pacific rim leaders scramble for trade options in Trump era | Reuters
Chinese media praise Trump’s ‘experience and ideology’ | Yahoo – AFP
Foxconn’s History Lesson for Apple | Bloomberg Gadly
Aluminum’s Chinese Illusion | Bloomberg Gadfly
China revives ‘comrade’ in drive for Communist party discipline | Financial Times
Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say | NY Times