Trade deal signed but not yet delivered

According to the “Flush the TPP” initiative, Wednesday’s rally was part of a series of protests that took place in some 40 USA cities, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco and Salt Lake City as well as in seven other countries, such as New Zealand, Chile and Peru.

“Although the deal may create pressure on China’s worldwide trade, a comprehensive assessment is needed for China to evaluate possible options favorable to the country”, said Bai Ming, research fellow from the Chinese Academy of worldwide Trade and Economic Cooperation, in an interview with the Global Times.

Trade Minister of Australia Andrew Robb said that the TPP will see increase of 98 per cent of the current tariff just like in the 12 states. ASA President Richard Wilkins, a farmer from Greenwood, Del., reiterated the association’s support and encouraged Congress to press through election-year rhetoric and get to work on the TPP in 2016.

Ministers from 12 nations gathered in Auckland on Thursday for the ceremonial signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which stands to become one of the world’s biggest free trade agreements. China is studying and evaluating it”, said the ministry, adding that the country expects “the various free trade arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region will complement each other and jointly contribute to this region’s trade, investment, and economic growth. Mr Obama has barely a year left on his term and his administration warns that the USA economy will suffer if politicians don’t ratify the agreement.

Many of the TPP’s intellectual property provisions would effectively delay the introduction of low-priced generic medications, increasing health care prices and reducing access to medicine both at home and overseas. As Ankit Panda noted in October, “Basically, the TPP can’t come into force if either of these states fail to ratify the agreement in their domestic legislatures because there would be no way for the remaining signatories to fulfill the 85 percent of GDP requirement (even if the United States and all states but Japan ratify, the eleven would stand at 83 percent of GDP)”. Many in the U.S. Congress oppose it for various reasons.

 By political design, the TPP excludes China, the world’s second largest economy.

Obama, in a statement issued after the pact was signed, said current global trade rules “too often undermine our values and put our workers and businesses at a disadvantage”.