Just when the TPP thought it was safe … a scandal in Japan and an election in Malaysia come along

A cronyism row surrounding the Japanese PM threatens the chief cheerleader of the re-named pact. And even if Shinzo Abe scrapes by, Malaysian voters could throw a spanner in the works

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A protester at the National Diet in Tokyo demands the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:00am, 19 Mar 2018Updated: 9:23am, 19 Mar 2018

The ink is barely dry on the reworked Asia-Pacific trade agreement signed last week by 11 countries from Japan to Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, but there is a question mark over whether the pact will take effect any time soon.

All eyes are on Japan, the pact’s biggest economy, with concern over whether the widening favouritism scandal linked to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could roil his ruling party’s grip on power – and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which the premier was the head cheerleader.

For the deal’s global proponents, the prospect of it being scuttled despite crossing the finishing line is by no means unimaginable.

After all, this pact was forged in the ashes of its predecessor the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was extinguished by US President Donald Trump upon his inauguration last January – even though the agreement had been signed 11 months earlier.

It's a matter of time before Trump and China embrace the TPP

US participation – abandoned because of Trump’s “America First” protectionist agenda – would have created the world’s largest free-trade zone, encompassing 40 per cent of the global economy.