The 12 countries involved in the negotiations on a free-trade agreement Trans-Pacific trade are not reached an agreement at their meeting in Hawaii that ended on the night of Friday to Saturday.
This failure presents a timing problem for US President Barack Obama who wanted to conclude the trade negotiations before the 2016 presidential campaign will come to pollute the debate on the economic priority of his second term.
According to the US Special Trade Representative (USTR), Michael Froman, the countries involved in the discussions have decided to continue bilaterally. No date for a new multilateral meeting has been set, suggesting that several issues remain sensitive.
But the Japanese minister in charge of negotiations, Akira Amari, hinted that a new ministerial meeting could be held in late August.
“If we can not conclude next time, then it will be very difficult,” he told the Japanese NHK radio.
This agreement, known by its acronym TPP, includes countries that represent about 40% of global GDP including the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia but not China. Its aim is to reduce trade barriers and regulations and that harmonizing the various legislations to facilitate trade.
“We have made significant progress and we will continue to work to resolve a limited number of questions and pave the way for the conclusion of negotiations,” assured Mr. Froman at a press conference Maui, in the Pacific
-. American election campaign –
The US government has obtained in June of Congress, dominated by Republicans supportive of free trade, the procedure called the “Trade Promotion Authority” (TPA) will force the day came parliamentarians to vote for or against the text of any trade agreement, without being able to amend it. The White House had been obliged to do so, face a rebellion from his own Democrats.
“This setback against the TPP in Maui changes the dynamics of the national debate,” trumpeted Saturday one of the Democrats the most opposed to the president, Rosa DeLauro.
The anti-TPP movement hopes that negotiations will extend until 2016, in the country of primary elections for the presidential and the congressional –accentuant pressure the Democrats who would be reluctant to support the agreement. Especially Hillary Clinton, whose ambiguity on the subject cringe in the left wing of the Democratic party.
“If it spills over in 2016, it became a campaign issue,” said the AFP Justin Krebs, the organization MoveOn.org
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Several issues divide the negotiating countries, such as market access, particularly dairy products , rice and sugar as well as intellectual property issues, drug pricing and access to the automotive market, including Japanese.
The Hawaii meeting was presented as crucial after several years of negotiations The first meetings dating back to 2008.
The other countries represented are Peru, Chile, Mexico, the sultanate of Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.
as for the Transatlantic free trade agreement (TTIP) also being negotiated, opponents denounce the TPP secrecy surrounding the negotiations and say it is primarily intended to promote the interests of large multinationals.
“This is good news for the inhabitants of this planet,” welcomed Friday night Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Association Global Trade Watch in Washington.
The Australian Minister Trade Andrew Robb said his side that the negotiations were “close” to succeed. “We took preliminary decisions on over 90% of subjects,” said he added in a statement.
The representative of New Zealand Tim Groser suggested that dairy products remained one of the sticking points.
“In all negotiations I attended the last thirty years, dairy products have always been one of the last issues to be resolved because this market perverted for so long. “
New Zealand particularly demanding greater market access for Canadian dairy products but this issue is very sensitive for Prime Minister Stephen Harper who faces elections in October .
08/01/2015 7:47:29 p.m. – Washington (AFP) – By Jean-Louis Doublet – AFP © 2015
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