Trade talks shift to China as TPP stalls

[TaiShang]

Trade talks shift to China as TPP stalls

Australia should turn its attention to a multilateral free trade agreement which includes our largest trading partner, China, as the United States-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal falters, according to leading business figure Rod Eddington.

Speaking after the completion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's Business Advisory Council meetings in Melbourne this week, Australian representative Rod Eddington said that the Free Trade Area of the Pacific agreement had widespread support in the region because, unlike the TPP, it included China.

"If there is a key difference between the two agreements it is that FTAAP includes China and given that they are now the biggest-Asian economy and the second-biggest economy in the world, having China and Japan in FTAAP is important and it's important for Australia because our two biggest trading partners are China and Japan," Sir Rod told The Australian Financial Review, following the conclusion of the summit.

"Whatever the outcome of the TPP discussions, we have to press on with FTAAP," Sir Rod said. "We've commissioned quite a big piece of work to help us prepare the ground for the forthcoming FTAAP discussions because we want to make sure that when the FTAAP discussions begin in earnest … we as ABAC, APEC's business arm are prepared to hit the ground running."

APEC's Business Advisory Council has commissioned a major report on the regional trade agreement including China for a meeting of APEC leaders in Manila in mid-November.

Australia's Trade Minister, Andrew Robb, told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday that while the US, Canada, Mexico and Japan had reached a stalemate over the TPP, a deal was still "doable" but that "the closer we get to a US presidential election, the more prospect (there is) of it falling over".

As the TPP falters, attention is increasingly turning to a China-led free trade deal. Mr Hockey and Mr Robb met the Chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission Xu Shaoshi in Canberra on Thursday for the first strategic economic dialogue between the two countries.

"Since our successful meeting in Beijing last year, Australia and China have signed a landmark Free Trade Agreement … in addition, Australia signed the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank articles of agreement, in Beijing in June this year. And today I introduced legislation into the House to give effect to our membership of the AIIB," Mr Hockey said.



Legislation introduced on Thursday confirms Australia's participation in the $135 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.



Read more: Trade talks shift to China as TPP stalls | afr.com
Follow us: @FinancialReview on Twitter | financialreview on Facebook

 

[DaiViet]

If TPP isn't success I dont see FTAAP has any future. TPP built on concrete alliance Japan, U.S., and countries with similar economy structure, with 5 years negotiation and yet meet success. The chance for FTAAP is slim like a hair.

 

[feilong]

If TPP isn't success I dont see FTAAP has any future. TPP built on concrete alliance Japan, U.S., and countries with similar economy structure, with 5 years negotiation and yet meet success. The chance for FTAAP is slim like a hair.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

 

[opruh]

And just like that Vietnam's superpower aspiration died. Condolence to my Vietnamese brothers!

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

This is nightmare for America. They hate China setting rules more than they hate their own TPP failure

 

[TaiShang]

This is nightmare for America. They hate China setting rules more than they hate their own TPP failure

Indeed. Obama himself warned: "If we do not write the rules, China will."

That sums up US psyche.

 

[JSCh]

Sign of the way the wind is blowing ?

Japan anxious at lull in TPP talks; Amari criticizes U.S. inaction
Politics Aug. 11, 2015 - 06:20PM JST ( 29 )

TOKYO —

Japan has expressed concern about a loss of momentum in talks on a pan-Pacific trade pact after participants failed to agree to meet again this month to try to clinch a deal that would cover 40 percent of the global economy.

Ministers from the 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would stretch from Japan to Chile, fell short of a deal at talks last month on the Hawaiian island of Maui, despite early optimism.

Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari, in a blog circulated on Tuesday, also questioned why the United States appeared to have lacked its usual “stubborn persistence” at those talks, despite a willingness of some countries to stay to try to reach an agreement.

“The reason I stressed ... that we should meet again this month was because each country might lose interest and (the talks) would go adrift,” Amari wrote.

“If they lose interest, it would take considerable time and effort to get motivation back to the original level, because the key to success is whether each country can maintain momentum towards an agreement.”

Amari said that the United States was vague about a concrete time frame and it appeared its negotiators needed a break.

Amari reiterated that a dispute over intellectual property protection for data used to develop biologic drugs, which Washington insists should be 12 years, and gaps over access to member countries’ dairy markets - a key issue for New Zealand - were major sticking points.

“What every country thought was strange was that the United States did not show its usual stubborn persistence this time but simply gave up,” he wrote, adding that the U.S. negotiators seemed to have judged that agreement could not be reached in a day or two.

Failure to clinch a deal was a setback for U.S. President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia and efforts to counter China’s clout. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also cast the deal as crucial to his efforts to reboot Japan’s stale economy.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015.

Japan anxious at lull in TPP talks; Amari criticizes U.S. inaction ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Japan is concerned with the process of TPP, the US might “give up” | Economy | What They Say About USA

 

[bobsm]

Looks like another big problem for the TPP.

Will Trans-Pacific trade deal go up in smoke over anti-tobacco proposal?

The ire of McConnell and other tobacco-state lawmakers throws a wrench into the negotiations.
By ADAM BEHSUDI 8/12/15 5:07 AM EDT Updated 8/12/15 1:41 PM EDT

Big Tobacco is pushing back against a strict anti-smoking provision in the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and has enlisted the support of the most powerful Republican in the Senate to help quash it.

The ire of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other tobacco-state lawmakers could throw a wrench into the delicate negotiations to close the agreement and secure congressional approval. President Barack Obama sees the deal as essential to securing his economic legacy.

Until now, McConnell has been among the president’s staunchest allies on the pact, which includes the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan and eight other Pacific Rim nations and would cover 40 percent of the world’s economic output.

While the Kentucky Republican stopped short of pulling his support for the deal, he warned in a letter that U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman should “not set a new precedent for future U.S. trade negotiations by negatively carving out a specific American agricultural commodity — in this case tobacco.” That provision would bar tobacco companies from the right to sue nations over laws they contend are damaging, such as anti-smoking measures.

Tobacco, McConnell wrote, is the second-highest agricultural export in Kentucky, which sold $300 million of the commodity in 2013 alone.

Despite the warnings from McConnell and other lawmakers, sources close to the talks say Froman pushed ahead with discussions on a tobacco exclusion with several countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia, during last month’s talks in Hawaii.

“USTR was clear tobacco had to be treated differently, and there was general agreement on that,” an industry source said of the discussions in Maui.

Froman broached the tobacco exclusion discreetly in separate meetings with trade ministers. Although the issue wasn’t settled, observers say it helps that the other countries are taking the lead, allowing Washington to focus on other difficult-to-resolve areas, such as dairy market access and drug patent protections.

USTR spokesman Trevor Kincaid said neither Congress nor business groups should be blindsided by the inclusion of a tobacco provision in a final deal. “Over the past several years, the administration has consistently briefed Congress on the salience of tobacco issues for our TPP negotiating partners,” Kincaid said in a statement.

Obama acknowledged support for such language at an Export Council meeting last December, calling for striking a balance between public health and business interests.

“The big bugaboo that’s lifted up there is tobacco companies suing poorer countries to make sure that anti-smoking legislation is banned, or at least tying them up with so much litigation that ultimately smaller countries cave,” Obama said.

Anti-tobacco activists say the issue is critical for the tobacco industry, which sees some of its strongest growth potential in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific and other developing regions. The activists say the prospect of lawsuits by big tobacco has a chilling effect on national regulations, especially in smaller, poorer countries that may lack the financial means to argue a case or pay damages.

The tobacco discussions in Maui prompted lawmakers and business groups to send a flurry of letters and statements to Froman. Thirty-four House members wrote that barring the tobacco industry from participating in investor disputes would hurt farmers.

“We firmly believe that all agricultural exports and industries covered in the TPP should be afforded the same opportunities and protections,” the lawmakers said in the letter, which was spearheaded by North Carolina Rep. George Holding and signed by several Ways and Means Republicans.

Meanwhile, Sen. Thom Tillis, another North Carolina Republican, vowed to vote against the trade agreement although he supported legislation to allow Obama to fast-track passage of the deal in Congress.

“Once we allow an entire sector to be treated unfairly in trade agreements, the question is, who’s next?” Tillis said in a floor speech July 30.

U.S. business groups have echoed those views, saying they oppose attempts to single out a specific product for special treatment.

“The high standards that the TPP should put in place to protect property and innovation and promote the rule of law should be ones that are applied without discrimination,” the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Association of Manufacturers and other groups wrote in a July 30 letter to Froman.

Added Phillip Morris International spokesman Corey Henry: “When governments embrace unequal treatment for one sector, they open a door to discrimination against all sectors.”

The tobacco giant has used international trade and investment rules to challenge Australia’s plain-packaging laws and other packaging and marketing laws in Uruguay. The company also filed a lawsuit with British American Tobacco against the British government in May over similar regulations. Britain could be among the first countries in the European Union to impose the standardized tobacco packaging rule, which the EU approved last year.

The anti-tobacco proposal discussed among trade partners makes reference solely to “manufactured tobacco products,” said a source closely following the talks, adding that any language will be carefully worded to exclude leaf tobacco.

Other sources who were in Maui for the trade talks say it’s unclear what is actually being discussed.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman speaks during a Trade and Competitiveness Forum on June 25, 2015 in Washington. | Getty
“I think it’s still an open question as to how it will be treated,” said National Foreign Trade Council Chairman Alan Wolff, whose group opposes any tobacco language. “Is it treated by name? Is it treated by health exclusion of some sort?” He added: “Our feeling here … is that it’s a pretty slippery slope if you name a product.”

Meanwhile, House Democrats opposed to tobacco urged Froman to sign a deal that “clearly protects legitimate public health measures relating to tobacco from unwarranted challenges.”

The letter, pushed by Michigan Rep. Sander Levin, was signed by Ron Kind of Wisconsin and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, both of whom supported fast-track legislation, as well as a dozen other Democrats.

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the discussions with the administration have focused on preventing the tobacco manufacturers from filing “abusive suits.”

“We and others have not focused on curtailing trade or anything that would impact tobacco growers,” Myers said.


Will Trans-Pacific trade deal go up in smoke over anti-tobacco proposal? - Adam Behsudi - POLITICO

 

[70U63]

You need to wake up....

If TPP isn't success I dont see FTAAP has any future. TPP built on concrete alliance Japan, U.S., and countries with similar economy structure, with 5 years negotiation and yet meet success. The chance for FTAAP is slim like a hair.

 

[Jlaw]

NiceGuy might commit suicide. He wanted TPP very badly so he can see CN economy crash

 

[bobsm]

U.S. warns nationals away from New Zealand anti-TPP demonstration

WELLINGTON, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- United States diplomats in New Zealand have warned U.S. nationals to avoid going near a march in Auckland to protest against the controversial 12-nation Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal on Saturday.

The U.S. Consulate in Auckland put a notice on its website and reportedly e-mailed U.S. nationals in New Zealand on Friday that New Zealand police expected about 8,000 people would attend the march in central Auckland at 1 p.m. local time.

"We urge citizens to avoid the protest march route as even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational. We remind citizens to always exercise caution when in the vicinity of any large gatherings, protests, or demonstrations," said the notice on the website.

"The Department of State remains concerned about the threat of violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world. U.S. citizens are reminded to maintain a high level of vigilance, to be aware of their surroundings and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness."

The Auckland march is expected to be the biggest of a series of protests against the TPP scheduled for many of New Zealand's main centers on Saturday.

Trade spokesperson for the opposition Green Party, Russel Norman, told Radio New Zealand that he would be joining the protests, and U.S. citizens had nothing to fear.

"I'd just say to the U.S. Embassy, Auckland isn't Ferguson and the police won't be shooting people," Norman said.

"It'll be a peaceful demonstration, they should just relax and maybe they should come along -- they might learn something."

Opponents have objected to the secrecy surrounding the TPP talks and claim many of the provisions will undermine New Zealand' s sovereignty and allow transnational corporations undue influence over the country's laws and regulations.

Four days of talks in Hawaii to finalize the deal stalled earlier this month after countries failed to reach agreement, but Prime Minister John Key said last week he expected it to be signed by the end of this year.

Copyright2015 Xinhua News Agency

 

[feilong]

All the Vietcong in here just born yesterday, they want to talk about economy lol. They think US rules will make all their partners obeys. Lol maybe viet will obeys lol..... NiceGuy will cry at US ambassador gate and begging for TPP lol. What an idiot @NiceGuy....

 

[ahojunk]

There is a saying, "when your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail".

When all you know is TPP, you will TPP this and TPP that ......

 

[NiceGuy]

Okay, since many desperate CN trolls here dreaming day and night for the 'failure' of TPP and tag my name in to troll, I will put my TPP prediction to my signature, so I dont have to say again & again when TPP will come out

TPP will come out in abt 3 years !

dont just keep jumping up and down and cheering so soon

 

[feilong]

Okay, since many desperate CN trolls here dreaming day and night for the 'failure' of TPP and tag my name in to troll, I will put my TPP prediction to my signature, so I dont have to say again & again when TPP will come out

dont just keep jumping up and down and cheering so soon

Oh in 3 years, lol you must be an idiot. When Obambam out of the White House, you think the republican will give green light for your TPP. Lol again you really an idiot. Right now as you can see the health care Obambam cares. Once obambam get out of the White House, lol republican regime will change it to obambam don't care health services. Lol.