You are on page 1of 4

What is the TPP?

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement


(TPP) is a trade agreement currently being
negotiated between Australia, Brunei
Darussalam, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia,
Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the
United States and Vietnam. It will account
for roughly 40% of global gross domestic
product and a third of world trade. The
comprehensive plan covers, among other
areas, government procurement,
intellectual property, electronic commerce,
labor protections, food safety, animal and
plant health, competition policy and state-
owned enterprises. Membership is by
invitation only.
T
he Philippines is on the right track in seeking to accede to the
TPP, according to officials from the US and New Zealand, two of the
free trade agreements 12 current members. Inquirer.net reports that
NZ Minister of Trade Tim Groser has cited the countrys good
progress in preparing for the TPP and said the government has
been completely rational by indicating to US President Barack
Obama the Philippines interest in joining. Groser added, however,
that the country would have to decide if it wants to make that
crucial last step and participate in negotiations.

TPP members are working towards a multilateral agreement that will
lower trade barriers between 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region
and effectively create the worlds largest trade agreement since the
WTO.

Groser says the crucial step for now is for current members to
complete negotiations so that the Philippines could better assess
what it must do to meet the TPPs high standards. At the same
time he acknowledged how bilateral trade between NZ and the
Philippines had gone over 1B NZ$ last year, and expressed
confidence the Philippines could become a major economy if future
governments are able to sustain the countrys economic momentum.

US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzer said the US welcomed the
Philippines interest in the TPP. The trade deal, when completed, will
PH on track to TPP,
say NZ, US officials
TRADE seeks to advance inclusive growth by
improving the Philippines global standing in the
international economy through higher levels of
trade and foreign direct investment. It also works
to ensure that national trade regimes conform to
international standards.
TPP Updates
Volume 1 Issue 9 June 2014
Recent developments on the Trans-Pacific Partnership gathered from third party sources as
indicated in the provided hyperlinks.
TPP Briefs: NZ farmers
advocacy group is eager to
push TPP forward; Australian
Trade Minister Andrew Robb
says TPP members may
reach agreement in early
2015; US dairy groups
threaten to pull support for
trade deal; Chilean senator
calls on president to
evaluate TPP benefits; US
House Democrats call for
better labor provisions.
International
news:
3
Singapore premier cites the
need for TPP to have strong
US bipartisan and public
support.
The TRADE Project
3F Herco Center,
114 Benavidez Street,
Legazpi Village, Makati City 1229
Tel: (02) 843-0612; 843-4704
Fax: (02) 823-7835
2
(continued next page)

PH ON TRACK (from p. 1)
2 TPP Updates/June 2014

give greater regulatory coherence for all members
and help forge better links for companies with
production and distribution networks across the
region, she said. Pritzers remarks, delivered on 4
June at a forum organized by the American
Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines
(AmCham) and the Makati Business Club (MBC),
were reported by Interaksyon.com. According to ABS
-CBN News.com, Pritzer also lauded governments
efforts in implementing economic and institutional
reforms and in improving intellectual property
protection and tax collection. She said US
businesses hoped to deepen trade investment ties
with the Asia-Pacific region.

Pritzer led a delegation of executives from US
companies that were eager to invest in information
technology, infrastructure, telecommunications,
clean energy, financial services, education and
healthcare. One of these is AES Corporation, an
energy firm interested in expanding operations to
the Philippines with an investment of around
US$1.2billion for a 1,200 megawatt power plant in
Masincloc, Zambales. Pritzer noted that another US
firm, Pangea Motors, has struck a deal with
transport group Pasang Masda to manufacture e-
jeepneys called COMETS (City Optimized Managed
Electric Transport) in the Philippines, to replace the
ageing jeepneys clogging the streets of Manila.

Pritzer said foreign direct investments to the
Philippines more than doubled in 2011-2012. She
also cited the USs $24 billion annual bilateral trade
with the Philippines and growing partnership with
the Asia-Pacific region, which is expected to be
home to more than half of the worlds middle class
and $10 trillion in goods and services by 2022.


NZ farmers advocacy
group eager for TPP

Radio New Zealand News reports that Federated
Farmers, the countrys independent advocacy
group for farmers and rural communities, is
keen to see the TPP push ahead despite ongoing
difficulties in negotiations between some
members over the elimination of agricultural
tariffs. Bruce Wills, the organizations president,
said that the TPPs success would be clearly
beneficial for NZ and its farmers.

Mr. Wills said that his group understood the
benefits of freer trade, and that their concern
for some time had been the slowing
momentum of the TPP. He said Federated
Farmers was merely voicing support for Prime
Minister John Key and saying get on with it.

The TPP, he continued, was critical. If we've got
some countries finding the pace too difficult,
my comment would be well maybe they need to
stand aside and let the majority of this 12-
member group get on and sign a full and
comprehensive trade deal."



2015 agreement possible,
says AU official

Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb has said
the 12 members of TPP may reach an agreement
early next year before the US election politics
get in the way, the Associated Press reported on
18 June. Mr. Robb made the statement at a
US Studies Center conference in Canberra
where he also declared a deal this year had no
chance of agreement despite quite a
momentum. He expressed belief that in the
first half of 2015 negotiations over content
would more or less be over, adding: Its then
just the politics.

US President Barack Obama, in a statement
reported a few days later in the New Straits
Times, was more optimistic, and expects that
an agreement could be reached by November in
time for his next Asian visit to attend the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit
in Beijing.

President Obama said he had discussed this
timeline with New Zealand Prime Minister John
Key, and hoped by the time we see each
other again in November we have got
something that we have consulted with


TPP BRIEFS
(continued on page 4)

TPP Updates/June 2014 3


Lee says the TPP shows the US is serious
in engaging Asia, but the trade deal
should result in a win-win situation.
S
ingaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong in his US visit reiterated his countrys
strong support for the TPP, and expressed
hope that the US Congress would ratify the
deal because of its importance to the US
economically as well as strategically,
according to The Business Times. Prime
Minister Lee was in the US for meetings with
President Barack Obama and Vice President
Joe Biden.

The Singaporean leader said at a dialogue in
Washington, DC organized by the non-profit
think tank Council on Foreign Relations, that
with Chinas growing influence, Asia was a
region where America played an important
role even with other current foreign policy
issues the US is currently facing such as Iraq,
Iran, Syria and Ukraine. He urged the US to
work closely with its Asian partners in forging
a final TPP deal, saying that while the TPP
showed the US was serious in engaging more
strongly with the region, there needed to be
policies, measures, specific projects on
which the US worked with its partners so that
the trade deal results in a win-win situation.
He acknowledged that US trade policy was a
key instrument to expanding influence to
Asian countries, but said it was important the
TPP have strong bipartisan and public support
in the US.

Channel News Asia reports that the
Singaporean Prime Minister also urged the
business community in New York to lobby
Congress in support of the TPP. We need to
be able to know that between the
Administration and Congress and the
American people, we can work together to
deliver the ratification, he said, warning that
uncertainty in the US Congress may signal
weakness to Washingtons negotiating
partners.

President Obama has made the TPP the
cornerstone of his governments economic
policy for the Asia-Pacific region. However,
Singapore PM asks US:
Work closely with Asian partners
efforts to renew fast-track authority which
allows the president to negotiate trade
agreements that Congress may approve or
reject, but not amend have been met with
opposition by lawmakers, including those from
President Obamas own Democratic Party who
have said in an open letter to the President that
trade negotiators do not adequately consult
with Congress. In April, according to World
Trade Online, Republican Representative Devin
Nunes, chairman of the House of
Representatives Ways and Means committee,
said the lack of fast-track had already derailed
TPP negotiations, as seen by the lack of
agreement between US and Japan over market
access. Nunes said further delay in renewing
fast-track authority may derail the TPP until
after the next president assumes office.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Dr. Munir Majid, visiting
senior fellow at the LSE Ideas Centre and
columnist for The Star Online, writes that the US
desire for a gold standard TPP needs to be
balanced with consideration for its partners
strategic and business interests. Munir Majid
said that the TPP gold standard is of US
definition and seeks to uphold a liberal global
system while enhancing American strategic and
business interest. As such, it could become
beset with non-adherence and interminable
disputes unless other members interests and
perspectives are incorporated. He said, for
example, that the US has also sought to protect
certain industries it deems sensitive, such as
medicines and tobacco, in the same way Japan is
now seeking to protect its agricultural sector.

The main point, Munir Majid said, is that the TPP
as a platform of cooperation should take into
account counter arguments and interests to an
American-defined trade and investment regime.

4 TPP Updates/June 2014



Congress about, that the public can take a look
at. He stressed however that there was still a
lot of work to be done.

Negotiators had met in Singapore in May but
were unable to agree on a time for concluding
the deal. Another round of negotiations is
scheduled for early July in Canada.

US dairy groups threaten
to remove support

US dairy industry groups have sent a letter to
US Trade Representative Michael Froman and
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack threatening
to withdraw support for the TPP if Japan and
Canada do not provide meaningful market
access for agricultural products, according to
Inside US Trade. The letter, however, did not
explicitly state the specific deal the dairy
industry wanted the US to secure.

The TPP must remain a high standard trade
agreement that can be used as a model for
future U.S. trade agreements," the letter dated 3
June said. "All TPP countries must... ensure this
undertaking lives up to its founding goals of
comprehensive and meaningful market access."
It noted that the US dairy industry has long
advocated for comprehensive market access
and the inclusion of Japan and Canada in TPP.
According to New Zealands AgriHQ, the letter
was signed by the US Dairy Export Council and
the National Milk Producers Council.

TPP faces domestic scrutiny in Chile

Inside US Trade reports that a senator belonging
to Chilean President Michelle Bachelets party
has drafted a non-binding resolution calling on
the president to evaluate the utility of
continuing with TPP negotiations. Senator Juan
Pablo Letelier, who accompanied President
Bachelet during her recent trip to the US, is
questioning whether the trade deal would
amount to a net benefit for Chile. He expects
the Senate to approve the resolution in July.

Chile now has very high standards for IP
protection, Letelier said, while emphasizing that



the country needed to protect public interest
when it comes to IP protection for medicines.
US negotiators are calling for strong patent
protection for biologics, a new class of drugs
developed from living tissue, to allow drug firms
to recover investments and continue further
research, but organizations such as Doctors
without Borders have warned that this could
limit access to affordable medicines.

Letelier added that Chilean lawmakers also have
misgivings about the certification requirement
stipulating that a final agreement could not be
enforced unless the US president certifies a
trading partner is compliant with all the TPP
provisions. He said this gave the US ultimate
authority and leverage that would not be in
keeping with Chiles legislative sovereignty.

US Dems call for improved
labor provisions

Members of the US House Democratic
Caucus have again criticized the TPP
framework, this time citing the need for better
protection of workers rights in the United
States and abroad.

In a letter addressed to US Trade
Representative Michael Froman and posted by
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro on her
website, 153 House Democrats called
attention to reports that Vietnam, a TPP
member, has rejected a TPP requirement that
workers be allowed to establish independent
labor unions. They pointed as well to three
other negotiating partners namely,
Malaysia, Brunei and Mexico as having labor
issues that need addressing in a serious and
meaningful way in order for the TPP to move
forward.

The House Democrats said all TPP members
must have binding and enforceable plans to
bring their laws and practices into compliance
with the trade deals labor requirements. They
added that such plans must be made public,
and the changes fully implemented, before
Congress takes up TPP for consideration.

TPP BRIEFS (from p. 2)

You might also like