TPP Talks Make Progress

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

23 February 2011

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has confirmed that the United States and its Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) partners – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam – concluded their fifth round of negotiations in Santiago, Chile, marking continued progress toward the goal of developing a trade agreement.

Having exchanged initial tariff offers on goods in January, the teams from the nine TPP countries agreed to exchange lists of requests for improvements in these initial offers next month ahead of the sixth round. They also agreed to exchange initial offers on services and investment, and on government procurement, before the next round.

In addition, the teams began consideration of how best to develop a TPP rule of origin, which will help support development of a regional trade agreement, and agreed to exchange proposed product-specific rules of origin in March.

The negotiators also made further progress in developing the agreement’s legal texts, which will spell out the rights and obligations each country will take on and that will cover all aspects of trade and investment relationships. The teams carefully reviewed the text proposals made by each country, ensuring understanding of each other’s proposals so negotiations could advance.

TPP partners also further developed approaches addressing the new cross-cutting issues that will be incorporated into the agreement, including a proposal for promoting competitiveness and facilitating business; how to promote the participation of small- and medium-sized businesses in international trade; deepening the production and supply chain linkages between TPP countries; enhancing the coherence of the regulatory systems of TPP countries to facilitate trade; and promoting development.

Reflecting the direction of the nine TPP leaders for the negotiations to be concluded as expeditiously as possible, the teams agreed to intensify their work, planning an ambitious agenda ahead of the next negotiating round in Singapore in late March and agreeing to extend the length of the round so negotiators would have more time to make progress in each group.

Reflecting on the progress in the TPP talks, during a speech in Georgia, Demetrios J. Marantis, the Deputy USTR, said that, “in just over a year, TPP has become the biggest game in town, and additional Asia-Pacific economies are eager to join. …. We will welcome additional countries when they are ready, and seek to bring a swift conclusion to TPP that assures maximum benefits for American workers and exporters.”

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