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Talks to conclude TPP by year-end fail
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The United States and 11 other nations negotiating a free trade zone stretching from Chile to Japan failed to reach a final agreement at talks in Singapore, but indicated they were closing in on a landmark deal.
The US-led agreement is a major part of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy shift toward Asia but has been snagged by disagreements between countries on market access, especially for agricultural products, environmental protection and intellectual property.
The US had said it hoped the trade pact would be completed by the end of the year.
After four days of meetings, ministers issued a statement yesterday saying that “substantial progress” had been made on finalizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It said that they had identified “potential landing zones” for most of the outstanding issues and would meet again next month.
Deborah Elms, a professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said the tone of the statement suggested negotiators have a “pretty clear understanding” of what a final agreement would look like.
Elms, who follows the negotiations, said she expected a deal to be finalized in March. Others have predicted similar.
Negotiators from the 12 countries are aiming to cut tariffs on goods and services to close to zero. They are also trying to ensure that foreign firms operating in the markets have a level playing field with state-owned ones, and that their products are not counterfeited.
The block includes developing countries with large state-owned industries such as Vietnam and Malaysia as well as rich nations including the US and Japan.
The agreement would encompass around one-third of world trade and 800 million people.
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