The president of the Peru's Association of Exporters (ADEX), Juan Varilias Velasquez, said that now the US had left the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), Peru has two options to explore: The first is to close a TPP without the US, which Japan approved a few days ago, or to achieve bilateral agreements with the countries with which Peru doesn't have an agreement, prioritizing certain countries, such as Australia and New Zealand.
"We regret that the US president's decision because the TPP was aiming to become the most important bloc in commercial terms, even surpassing the European Union. However, we understand that each country is sovereign," he said.
Some of the benefits that Peru expected from the TPP include the opening of 5 new markets (Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei) and the possibility of including its companies in global value chains led by US and Japanese companies.
Regarding being a part of global value chains, Varilias said one had to take into account that the US and China are the great engines of these chains and that, contrary to the protectionist policies of President Trump, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is leading globalization. Thus, Peru must deepen its relations with RCEP member countries, which is the economic bloc led by China.
Varilias said Peru already had free trade agreement commitments with 11 members of the TPP, as it had FTAs with 5 members of the TPP (China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand), that it had already negotiated with other 5 members of the TPP that are also part of the RCEP, and that the country had just started negotiations with India. In addition, Peru could aspire to be included in the negotiations of the RCEP.
Exports
Peruvian exports to the TPP are recuperating because of mineral exports. Between January and November 2016 they amounted to 9.861 million dollars, 4.9% more than in the same period of 2015. Traditional exports grew by 10% and non-traditional exports decreased by 1.8%