Australia appears to have dodged copyright changes in the Trans Pacific

Twelve countries representing almost 40 percent of the global economy have reached basic agreement on an expansive new trade deal called the Trans Pacific Partnership – and the deal may have implications for a few digital rights.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) is resolved to win the endorsement of the member states of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to join the second round of negotiations and gain access to the free trade pact, a Cabinet spokesman said Monday.

Several major worldwide news outlets have pointed out this in their reports, saying that the TPP is a tight-knit economic bloc to counter China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific. Indeed, in 2014, textile and apparel exports from the TPP countries to the U.S. totalled $19bn. “We should write those rules, opening new markets to American products while setting high standards for protecting workers and preserving our environment”.

Australian companies will also be able to bid for government procurement deals for for computers and related services in all TPP countries, as well as telecommunications and related services in Brunei, Canada, Malaysia and Peru, DFAT said. It will also perhaps have a few effect on matters of intellectual property.

In the United States, President Barack Obama has to give Congress 90 days’ notice of his intention to sign the trade accord.

In a written statement, the chamber’s top Republican hailed the deal as “potentially one of the most significant trade deals in history”, but adding that a few serious concerns have been raised on a number of key issues.

In the United States, final approval of the deal could be complicated by the looming 2016 presidential election, and congressional action on the accord ultimately could be put off until 2017, when a new president takes office.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the basic agreement as “a farsighted policy for all participating countries that share the values and try to build a free and fair economic zone“.

CHOICE’S Campaigns Manager Erin Turner says it’s absurd that the trade minister has committed Australia to a deal the public has never seen.

Canada meanwhile fought to keep access to its domestic dairy and poultry markets strictly limited.

However, US Senator Elizabeth Warren said that trade agreements claim to have “strong and meaningful protections” but “those protections prove unable to stop the worst abuses”, the site mentions.