TPP Reaching Peak

Negotiation over Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade framework in Asia-Pacific region, is reaching a peak later this month. Twelve parties are having high-level meetings in coming weeks, in which each nation will make deliberated efforts to protect its national interests. There still are some unsolved sections they are struggling. As predicted, United States is leading the negotiation.

The parties started the meeting by head of delegations in Hawaii, which will be followed by ministers meeting later this week. If they can have a comprehensive deal on each section, twelve nations are expected to sign the new framework this fall and TPP will be activated next spring.

Out of all thirty-one sections, seventeen, such as smooth custom process or supports to emerging countries, have been settled. Other two, preface and final notes, will be reconfirmed at the end of negotiation. So there are twelve sections that have not met a goal. Eight out of the twelve, including regulation on procurement in building infrastructure or rules for protecting environment, are expected to see achievements in the meeting by the head of delegations. So, the last four will be the most difficult agenda in TPP, which will be deliberately discussed in the ministers meeting.

The chief agenda will apparently be intellectual property. Receiving strong internal lobbying of pharmacy business, United States requires ten or more years for protecting medical data of brand-new medicines. Emerging countries protest it, asserting five or less years, for easier use of generic medicines. For preference of entertainment businesses like Disney, U.S. requires seventy years for protecting copyright, while Japan or other countries want it to be fifty. The negotiation is reportedly converging into seventy years along with the idea of U.S.

Another focusing point is investment. U.S. prefers to include a rule that a firm can indict foreign government, where it runs its business, when it suffers from unfair regulation. But, some countries including Australia or Japan want to have certain limitation in the rule, concerning consecutive indictment by U.S. companies. On government-owned company, Vietnam and Malaysia require exemptions to protect their own companies.

In the final process of the negotiation, Canada is playing as a wild card. Having general election this fall, Canadian government is showing rigorous attitude on opening its market of dairy foods or poultry. U.S. indicated a possibility of leaving Canada behind for early settlement. If it happens, other nations may have the same behavior. It is still possible that overall framework will miserably be broken down.