Japan to set up Trans-Pacific Partnership headquarters

“We think it helps define the rules of the road for the Asia-Pacific region in ways that are consistent with the values we share”, he said after the final marathon negotiating session in Atlanta.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnnell also vowed “intense scrutiny” of the proposed agreement.

Critics says that negotiations have been conducted in secret, and that it favours big corporations while Japan stands to reap huge economic benefits from the deal, for the United States it is an important strategic move.

“When more than 95 per cent of our potential customers live outside our borders, we can’t let countries like China write the rules of the global economy”, the president said Monday.

Officials met for most of the past week in Atlanta to work out details of the agreement, the conclusion of which ends five years of talks between member nations.

Vermont Senator and Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has already vowed to fight the trade deal, calling it “disastrous”. “In the Senate, I will do all that I can to defeat the TPP agreement”, he tweeted.

However, many of Obama’s Democrats, as well as labour groups, fear the TPP will cost manufacturing jobs and weaken environmental laws.

Senator Orrin Hatch, a powerful Republican who heads the Senate Finance Committee, was wary.

President Obama lauded the agreement as good for American businesses as well as the environment but now must convince Congress to sign off on it.

‘Trade deal for 21st century’.

Earlier this year, Obama pushed a bill through Congress that gives him “fast track” authority, also known as trade promotion authority.

USA sugar growers had warned about the economic damage to the domestic industry from greater imports of sweetener and Mexico has been keen to protect preferential access to the US sugar market.

He said USA negotiators got a better deal with Japan that sees tariffs phased out over 25 years. “We were always confident for a good outcome but you never know until the deal is done”. “It would continue the offshoring of jobs and weakening of our communities”.

– Establishes 5- to 8-year patent protections for cutting-edge biologic drugs, less than the 12-year USA threshold but more than Australia’s 5 years.

The accord involves significant market openings from Canada, the United States and Japan for farm products from sugar and rice to cheese and beef.

China’s Ministry of Commerce called the TPP “one of the key free trade agreements for the Asia-Pacific region”, according to a statement on Xinhua state news agency website.

“Combined with our landmark trade deals with Korea, Japan and China, the TPP forms part of the government’s microeconomic reform strategy to support the diversification of our economy in this critical post-mining boom phase”.