Trans Pacific 12 Nation Partnership Meet in Singapore for WTO Plus Deal

Talks to Continue in 2014

The twelve countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement concluded on Tuesday 10 December. “Substantial progress” was reported of talks in Singapore.

After a four-day meeting in the Asian city-state are very close to inking an agreement, with many speculating that an announcement could come in the early months of the new year.

Market access issues, will be the focus of their upcoming work, the ministers said in a brief statement.

The twelve members of the TPP are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US, and Vietnam - a group whose combined GDP amounted to US$28.1 trillion last year. If completed, would cover a market of 793 million consumers.

The TPP is envisioned as a high-standard, comprehensive and forward looking trade agreement that aims to address the challenges of the modern economy. The agreement will cover both new and traditional trade and investment issues, and seeks to create jobs and promote economic development, in a bold step towards establishing a free trade agreement for the Asia Pacific. Besides tackling issues such as trade liberalisation in goods, services, investments, and government procurement, the TPP will include areas such as intellectual property rights, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary standards, competition policy, labour and environment. It will also incorporate new trade facilitation elements, such as the promotion of regulatory coherence, enhancement of cross-border supply chain connectivity and the facilitation of SMEs among TPP members.

All 12 TPP countries are also members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). With the addition of Japan in July 2013, the TPP members account for nearly 40 percent of global GDP and about one-third of all world trade.

The TPP talks also continue to face intense scrutiny by the public, with questions on various points, such as the proposed intellectual property provisions of the pact. The documents, published by the Huffington Post and anti-secrecy website Wikileaks.

US-Japan dynamic

The US and Japan - the two largest economies participating in the TPP – have to resolve their own set of issues before TPP moves forward.

Since then, the question over whether Japan will actually be able to agree on full tariff elimination on certain agricultural products - rice, beef and pork, wheat, sugar, and dairy - that are “sacred” to the Asian island country has been a key area of focus for negotiators.

Tokyo, for its part, has stressed in recent weeks that it has limited flexibility in this area, pushing instead to maintain some existing protections on those goods.

Automobiles are another long-standing issue for the two trading partners, with Tokyo reportedly pushing Washington to lift its import tariffs on cars.

South Korea on the way?

South Korea has also expressed interest in recent weeks in becoming a TPP member, though whether it will be able to join the pact before or after a deal is signed is unclear.

“As with previous prospective members, these consultations will focus on Korea’s readiness to meet high standards across the TPP, as well as to address outstanding bilateral issues of concern including full implementation of existing obligations,” US Trade Representative Mike Froman said in November.