Steady Progress In TPP Negotiations

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

22 June 2010

As the second round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement ended in San Francisco, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk congratulated all parties on making “significant, positive” progress during last week’s talks.

The original TPP agreement was signed by New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei in July 2005. President Obama confirmed in November last year that the United States was looking to join in an expanded agreement. Australia, Peru and Vietnam, as new prospective members, also participated in the first round of negotiations in Melbourne in March this year.

During the second round of talks, discussions focused on determining the architecture for market access negotiations, and deciding the relationship between the TPP and existing free trade agreements (FTAs) among the negotiating partners.

The talks also addressed “horizontal” issues such as small business priorities, regulatory coherence, and other issues that reflect the way businesses operate. It made progress toward the tabling of text on all chapters of the agreement in the third negotiating round, scheduled for October in Brunei.

“The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a launch pad for the Obama Administration’s intention to dramatically increase American exports to the Asia-Pacific and create good jobs here at home. We’re in the early stages of these talks, but our team will be reporting some significant, positive outcomes to Congress from this week in San Francisco,” said USTR Ron Kirk.

United States involvement in the TPP is predicated on the expansion of the agreement to include more economies across the Asia-Pacific region. While there has been no indicated date for completion of the agreement, TPP negotiations are expected to extend into next year. It was said that a final agreed text by November 2011, when a Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is due to be held in Hawaii, could be useful for President Obama.

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