U.S. ‘losing our economic competitiveness’ in Asia-Pacific region: Former Obama trade official

Nearly six years after former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal, former high-ranking officials are looking to win American lawmakers back to the table – this time, to get approval on a bipartisan level.

Authored by Wendy Cutler, Former acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative under the Obama administration, and Clete Willems, Deputy Assistant for International economics under the Trump White House, the new plan proposes changes to what has now become known as the Comprehensive Pacific Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), in consultation with five Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

“We feel that things have changed in the region, in the United States since we withdrew from TPP six years ago,” said Cutler, Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live (video above). And frankly, we’re losing our economic competitiveness in the region, as well as our economic influence in the region.”

First drafted in 2015, the TPP was signed by a dozen member states including the U.S., Australia, and Japan in 2016, with the aim of creating a significant trade zone to counter the growing economic influence of China in the region.

Specifically, the pact called for common rules in…