12 Nations on Pacific Rim Sign TPP Pacts in Atlanta

The United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim nations on 5 October reached final agreement on the largest regional trade accord in history.

The entire trade agreement came together only at 5 a.m. Monday, after five days and sleepless nights of tense haggling secluded in an Atlanta hotel. When the 11 men and one woman (Magali Silva of Peru) filed onto a dais in a hotel ballroom several hours later to meet reporters, scores of aides burst into applause, and some ministers joined in.

The conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, after years of negotiations is “an important first step,” conceded Michael B. Froman, the United States trade representative. US Congress has to pass the TPP but since the President has fast track authority, the deal will get through Congress eventually.

The 12 Country TPP represents two-fifths of the global economy, from Canada and Chile to Japan and Australia. It will bring them all into a web of common rules governing trans-Pacific commerce. It is the capstone of the Obama economic agenda to expand exports and of foreign policy “rebalance” toward closer relations with fast-growing eastern Asia, after years of American preoccupation with the Middle East and North Africa.

No More China, says Obama

“When more than 95 percent of our potential customers live outside our borders, we can’t let countries like China write the rules of the global economy,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “We should write those rules, opening new markets to American products while setting high standards for protecting workers and preserving our environment.”

That argument - that the Pacific pact would be a bulwark against China’s power and a standard-setter for global commerce - will be central to the president’s hard sell ahead to Congress, administration officials said.

Big Corporations behind TPP?

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is running for the Democrats’ 2016 nomination, began a fund-raising appeal within hours of the deal’s announcement. “Wall Street and big corporations just won a big victory to advance a disastrous trade deal,” he said in a statement. “Now it’s on us to stop it from becoming law.”

The Pacific accord would phase out thousands of import tariffs as well as other barriers to international trade, like Japanese regulations that keep out some American-made autos and trucks. It also would establish uniform rules on corporations’ intellectual property, and open the Internet even in communist Vietnam.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative said it eventually would end more than 18,000 tariffs that the participating countries have placed on American exports, including autos, machinery, information technology and consumer goods, chemicals and agricultural products as varied as avocados in California and wheat, pork and beef from the Plains states.

The trade ministers who negotiated it predicted the overall economic and political heft of the 12-nation group would turn the accord into a model for future trade agreements. It would overhaul the system for settling disputes between nations and foreign companies, while barring tobacco companies from using that process to block countries’ antismoking initiatives. Negotiators said it also would enforce higher standards for labor conditions and environmental protection, including wildlife-trafficking.

Ford says TPP won’t Stop the Japs

The Ford Motor Company quickly condemned the agreement, saying in a statement that it would not meaningfully address currency manipulation by American trading partners, like Japan, that has the effect of lowering prices for their exports to the United States.

“To ensure the future competitiveness of American manufacturing, we recommend Congress not approve T.P.P. in its current form,” the Detroit automaker said.

Tim Groser of New Zealand, a small nation that is a major dairy exporter and would gain new access to markets in Canada, the United States and elsewhere, interjected, “Look, long after the details of this negotiation on things like tons of butter have been regarded as a footnote in history, the bigger picture of what we’ve achieved today will be what remains.”

Five Years Protection to Biologics from Generic “Biosimilars”

The ministers confirmed that one of the most challenging issues was dealing with so-called biologics, which are advanced medicines made from living organisms. The United States sought up to 12 years’ protection for drug makers to withhold data needed to produce generic “biosimilars,” as an incentive for their innovations, while Australia and Peru led most other nations in fighting for no more than five years of protection.

The compromise set a mandatory minimum of five years, without setting a maximum, leaving both sides to declare victory. “We do think we have a balanced result,” said Ms. Silva of Peru.

But that compromise raised questions from a significant source, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade. Mr. Hatch had shepherded fast track through the Senate, but has demanded no compromise on the American position protecting pharmaceutical giants.

The decision to bar tobacco companies from using the deal’s dispute resolution tribunals to challenge antismoking law may cost the accord support among Republican lawmakers from tobacco states.

But without those compromises, a final accord may not have been possible.

Only by dawn had negotiators settled on expanding access to dairy and sugar markets, especially in the United States and Canada. Also in final days, the United States and Japan agreed to long periods before American tariffs on Japanese vehicles sold in this country are phased out- 30 years for trucks, 25 for autos, and up to 15 years for some auto parts.