Vietnam releases full text of TPP agreement

Significantly the world’s second largest economy China is not included, although Australia and China recently signed a free trade agreement after nine years of negotiations and Australia has stated it is committed to expanding the TPP membership.

Asked if he supports it, Ryan said, “I don’t know the answer to what my position is on a trade agreement I have not even yet read”.

14 percent of all jobs – are directly tied to global trade, and 68,500 of those are union jobs, according to a new study that seeks to build support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“California-grown food and farm products have a worldwide reputation for high quality, and our ports have the ability to deliver those products efficiently”, he said.

Labor representatives, who had already voiced opposition to the deal, said the agreement contained weak, poorly worded or unenforceable provisions.

When we have a level playing field, Americans out-compete anyone in the world.

Now with the 6,000 pages of TPP text laid bare we can finally see for ourselves whether it truly is a “transformational document”, an ambitious agreement, a missed opportunity or a comprehensive sell-out.

Pacific trading partners are working toward releasing details of a sweeping free-trade pact, created to free up exports of goods ranging from medicines to milk, as early as the end of this week, a person familiar with the text said on Wednesday.

Apart from the US, Japan and Mexico, countries in the trade pact are New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Peru, Canada, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.

If ratified, the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be a legacy-defining achievement for U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration’s pivot to Asia, aimed at countering China’s rising economic and political influence.

“The TPP’s secretive, lobbyist-controlled policymaking process has led to a deal that upholds corporate rights and interests at the direct expense of all of our digital rights”, it said.

Outspoken critic of the agreement, Professor Jane Kelsey, says it contains a lot of things that ordinary New Zealanders should be concerned about. This should lead to improvements in the food safety and animal plant health regulatory systems of other TPP countries so they better align with USA systems. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Thursday urged Congress to act, saying “there’s no reason it should take a year to get that done”.