New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was scheduled to arrive later Thursday morning for the official signing ceremony, Trade Minister Todd McClay told the assembled delegates.
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The Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the biggest regional trade deals ever, was signed by 12 member nations yesterday in New Zealand, but the agreement will still require months of tough negotiations before it becomes a reality.
“We continue to call on Congress and the Administration to quickly address the remaining industry issues to ensure the agreement provides maximum benefit, which will also enable greater likelihood of congressional approval this year”, he said.
In the long-run, the deal – which excludes China, the world’s second-largest economy – could help cement American influence in the Pacific, and give the US more power to set the rules of global trade across much of Asia. China is not a member of the TPP.
“More than 1,600 U.S. companies, the most litigious in the world, will gain new rights they can enforce through private offshore tribunals if/when regulation damages their value or profits”, she said.
The trade deal looks to facilitate investment between 12 countries across the Pacific Rim, which together account for about 40 percent of the global economy.
The Greens said in a statement that they “oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and similar deals that are negotiated in secret, empower corporations to sue governments, or that threaten Australia’s labour, health or environment laws; and call on the Australian parliament to reject the TPPA”.
This, however, was rejected by Andrew Robb, the trade minister who was first to sign the deal in Auckland. Some opponents are in the US government. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) took five years and 19 rounds of negotiations before it was concluded on October 5, 2015.
The TPP is supposed to ensure everyone from Vietnamese shrimpers to New Zealand dairy farmers get cheaper access to markets and bring in economic benefits. “Since its inception the NZ-US Council has been working towards achieving an FTA agreement between the two countries so today is a very good day for NZ-US relations”.
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United States trade representative Michael Froman, in Auckland, said the agreement was “never directed against” any specific country and “it’s important to have a constructive economic relationship” with China.
