Global value chains and the CPTPP

The CPTPP, or the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans‐Pacific Partnership, is an example of a ‘mega‐regional’ free trade agreement, whose provisions on the rules of origin and trade facilitation can potentially have large impacts on CPTPP‐wide supply chains. In this paper, we analyse how intensively the CPTPP members participate in the global value chain (GVC), whether they have stronger linkages with members than with non‐members, the position of the members in the global and regional network, and whether the CPTPP members are key upstream and downstream trade partners to each other. We develop formulas of GVC position, and importance of bilateral upstream and downstream partners, based on the gross‐export decomposition framework of Koopman et al. (2014, American Economic Review , 104, 459) and Borin and Mancini (2017).