As the global trade regime threatens to unravel under the Trump administration’s assault on the WTO dispute settlement disciplines and its tearing up the rules in its trade war with China, ASEAN — the motley Southeast Asian grouping that includes Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and the Philippines — would seem the most unlikely bloc to spring effectively to its defence. But that’s exactly what has happened. Japan’s initiative with Australia and others to double down on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) — TPP-11 or TPP ... (full story)