Obama tells lawmakers of plan to sign Pacific free trade pact

Microsoft executive Dorothy Dwoskin says the Trans-Pacific Partnership has important safeguards for allowing data to flow between countries to help facilitate more e-commerce.

The deal now brings together 12 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam.

“For the first time in a trade agreement, there are provisions that prohibit restrictions on cross border data flows and local data storage, permit companies and individuals to use their choice of cyber security and encryption tools, and ensure the protection and enforcement of trade secrets”.

“A new president could well seek to reopen the text, as the Obama administration did with the (South) Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement when he forced (South) Korea to accept a supplementary deal four years after it was first signed”, she said.

It also emphasizes the intention of the trading bloc to abide by earlier commitments made under the World Trade Organization and other worldwide treaties.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman repeated a call on Congress to quickly endorse the TPP, saying in a statement, “The ultimate decision as to whether the United States leads on trade remains with America’s elected representatives”.

The deal compels Vietnam to open up to labor unions while Malaysia must bolster its efforts to ebb the glut of human trafficking in the country.

The terms are in a separate bilateral agreement between Washington and Hanoi – one of the clauses in a mammoth trade pact encompassing twelve countries bordering the Pacific Ocean.

Republican veteran Orrin Hatch, who chairs the senate finance committee, suggested a tough battle ahead if the trade deal was to win support in Congress.

Mr Groser said he’s received extremely good feedback about the document, but acknowledged many people wouldn’t read the 6000 page document. As an example, the tariff to Japan, the largest market for USA beef, could be reduced from 38.5% to 27.5%.

Getting Congressional approval for the pact will be a challenge for Barack Obama, during his past year in White House, as dozens of lawmakers remain sceptical about it.

The Federal Opposition has vowed to examine the document “very carefully”, Labor’s Trade spokeswoman Penny Wong has said the deal had “significant potential benefits”.