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The US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being negotiated by twelve countries from the Asia-Pacific is widely expected to be a high-quality 21st century regional trade agreement (RTA), setting new standards for trade rules and governance. Once formalized, the TPP will have significant implications for the Asia Pacific region. This article discusses these implications from the economic, regulatory and strategic perspectives along with the TPP's likely impact on Asian regionalism. Achieving its original ambitions might be difficult given the heterogeneity of negotiating members in the TPP and their difficulty in accepting a US-dominated trade agenda.