China open to mechanisms good for Asia-Pacific: Commerce Minister

More important than tariffs, the deal sets common standards across member states in areas such as intellectual property rights, labour laws, the environment, e-commerce, and the deregulation of state owned enterprises.

Congress will have 90 days to review the agreement before voting on it. “In the coming weeks, we will carefully examine the agreement to determine whether it is in the best interests of America’s corn farmers”.

The Government of Canada announced today a series of new programs and initiatives to help support supply-managed producers throughout the implementation of the TPP as well as the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA).

He pointed out that in 2014, $109 billion worth of local goods and services went to TPP countries – a third of Australia’s total exports. These would include buying up, as emergency rice stock, an amount of rice in the market equivalent to the increase in imported rice after the TPP pact is enforced.

“The bottom line is virtually every commodity group will see tariff eliminations and/or reductions and/or expanded preferential access for American products”, he said. Outside the European Union, Japan is the world’s largest pork importer. Vietnam will eliminate tariffs and Malaysia will lock tariffs in at zero percent. Removing barriers to trade with other countries is an effective strategy to achieve that goal.

Above all, our competition with Japan is expected to get fiercer than ever before because Japan is now able to catch up with our hard-earned competitive edge thanks to the TPP.

Beyond the detractors-and there are many, including the United Auto Workers and Ford-who say the TPP does not address currency manipulation that can make foreign cars cheaper to sell in the USA, the treaty requires vast patience.

One study estimated a gain in global GDP of about 0.3 per cent relative to a baseline without the deal by 2025. The trade-promotion bill approved by Congress highlighted the importance of that topic.

Ford said the TPP in its current form doesn’t prevent the currency manipulation that can hurt global trade and the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing. There are other mechanisms in the Treasury Department to deal with currency manipulation, he added.

“We obviously would have preferred that no additional market access be conceded in the dairy sector”, said DFC President, Wally Smith.

Obama, in a released statement, said the deal will knock down barriers that are “preventing American businesses from selling” in a few of the fastest growing parts of the world.

While the TPP would likely be positive to varying degrees for those within the pact, it may divert trade and investment from non-participating countries. One of the biggest winners of the agreements IP provision was Disney, according to Jordan Carter, chief executive of non-profit InternetNZ.