TPP negotiations deadlocked when "98% completed"

Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb commented that the current main obstacle lies in the "four" major economies including the US, Canada, Japan and Mexico.

“The sad thing is that 98% of the work has been completed,” he said.

According to Reuters news agency, disagreements surrounding auto trade issues between Japan and North America, New Zealand dairy products, and exclusivity periods for new generation drugs are the main reasons why TPP has not been completed.

However, countries still believe that reaching an agreement is very close.

“Many obstacles were resolved in this meeting in a way that I found to be much more progressive than previous meetings,” said New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser.

“There are currently only one or two problems that are really difficult to solve, and one of these is the dairy industry problem.”

The failure to reach a final agreement for TPP is considered a failure for US President Barack Obama. With the participation of 12 countries accounting for 40% of the global economy, TPP is the economic centerpiece of America's policy of shifting focus to Asia, as well as an opportunity to balance China's influence in the region.

The 4-day negotiation round that just took place on the island of Maui in Hawaii had the participation of 650 negotiators, 150 journalists and hundreds of people with related interests.

This round of negotiations is considered the last opportunity to reach an agreement for the US Congress to pass this year, before the 2016 US presidential election will dominate the agenda in this country.

Currently, TPP negotiating countries have not given a specific schedule for the next ministerial-level negotiations.

New Zealand, the world's leading milk exporter, announced that it would not agree to an agreement that does not include opening up the milk markets of participating countries. The dairy markets that New Zealand is targeting are the US, Japan, Canada and Mexico.

Chairman of the world's largest dairy export group Fonterra of New Zealand, Mr. John Wilson, attended the negotiations late Thursday this week to promote the above goal.

The issue of generic drug protection is also a big problem for TPP. American pharmaceutical companies want generic drugs to be protected for 12 years, while Australia wants 5 years, and Chile does not want generic drugs to be protected.

“For us, the most important thing is to reach a balanced agreement between public policy goals in protecting pharmaceutical intellectual property rights,” said Chilean Deputy Minister of Trade Andres Rebolledo.

According to some close sources, the US is on one side on the issue of generic drugs, while almost all other TPP negotiating countries are on the other side, and neither side wants to make concessions.

Both sides consider this a "red line" issue.

On the issue of auto trade, the US and Japan are still trying to come to an agreement on rules of origin for cars. This rule is the basis for determining whether the product comes from within the TPP area and is eligible for tax exemption or not.

Japanese car manufacturers import many components from Thailand, a non-TPP member, and strict regulations will upset this supply chain.

In addition, Japan also wants the US to quickly remove tariffs on Japanese auto components exported to the US. Meanwhile, the US auto industry has close ties with the industry in neighboring Canada and Mexico.

Source: VnEconomy