U.S., China Intensify Trade Competition on APEC Stage

President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping [have] laid out competing visions for trade in Asia, showing how the U.S. and China are vying for commercial as well as military influence in one of the most important corners of the global economy...

Security analysts have described the TPP as an economic component of Washington’s broader swing toward Asia, which also includes deepening military relationships with countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines while contesting China’s claims to sovereignty over busy shipping routes through the South China Sea.

In a meeting with leaders of the founding nations, Mr. Obama said TPP is “at the heart of our shared vision for the future of this dynamic region.”

“This is the highest-standard and most progressive trade deal ever negotiated,” he said.

China called on Asia-Pacific leaders to align themselves behind the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, a free-trade zone that has been on the agenda of APEC for years—and was initially pushed by the U.S.—but was relegated to the back burner as the U.S. pursued the TPP. Mr. Xi described the zone to executives as a way to safeguard links among the fast-growing region’s economies. APEC says its 21 members account for 144 free-trade agreements, more than half the global total.

...China and others have already made significant progress on regional trade deals that could morph into a larger pact. Moreover, some analysts say that until now China has had a clearer global economic strategy than the U.S.: using its economic might to fund infrastructure and other development around the world, often through efforts to create new space for trade and shipping.

...Still, risk analysts and businesses operating in the region say the U.S. has already secured a strategic victory in setting new rules of global trade by nudging forward a broader discussion on trade and investment, and setting a higher standard, particularly for intellectual-property rights, in the TPP...

This has been excerpted from 18 November 2015 article by The Wall Street Journal.