China's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a Pacific Rim-focused trading bloc, is unlikely to be successful due to the country's poor track record on market access, according to US Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee.

Hagerty, who sits on Senate committees for appropriations, foreign relations and banking, argued that Beijing's bid amounts to "rhetoric" and that other members of the CPTPP would not accommodate a country that behaves "in a predatory fashion".

The comments put Hagerty on the side of those opposed to the CPTPP, a later version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that former President Donald Trump pulled out of in 2017.

The US has instead offered its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which focuses on improving environmental and labour standards as part of a "worker-centred" trade policy.

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework was launched by US President Joe Biden in May 2022 as a countermeasure to China's growing economic influence in the region. The framework aims to promote economic growth and development, increase investment in infrastructure, and support democratic values and human rights.

While the US has not yet formally joined the CPTPP, the Biden administration has signaled a willingness to engage with the agreement's members on trade issues.

In September 2021, the US and Japan signed a digital trade agreement that includes provisions on data localization and digital trade, and there have been discussions about the US potentially joining the CPTPP in the future.

The impact of the CPTPP on the global textile and apparel industry will depend on how effectively the participating countries implement the agreement's provisions.