The CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) is a free trade agreement signed in 2018 between 11 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The treaty was originally envisioned by the US as an economic bloc to counterbalance China’s growing power but the US pulled out in 2017. The CPTPP aims to create an integrated economic area by eliminating/reducing tariffs, liberalizing trade, opening each other's markets to foreign investment, etc. It has strict conditions for joining such as high liberalization requirements in service trade, high standards for intellectual property protections, high labor and environmental standards. Recently, both China and Taiwan have filed an application to join the CPTPP.