International trade effects of a potentially revived Trans-Pacific partnership for North America

Abstract

Abstract. This paper analyzes the international trade relations of the United States, Canada, and Mexico with the now defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP12) member countries currently and historically in order to provide insights for potential future effects provided United States decides to join the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP or TPP11) with the remaining original TPP countries. Using a gravity model estimation, we find that the existing free trade agreements (FTAs) between TPP12 countries (intra-TPP) and FTAs between TPP12 members and other countries (extra-TPP) have positively impacted trade in the 1980-2015 period. A revived TPP12 agreement promises to boost trade further. Keywords. International trade, Gravity model, Free trade agreements, Trans-Pacific partnership. JEL. F10.