USTR Chief Plans Asia Trip To Press TPP
The chief of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Michael Froman, will travel to the Asia-Pacific region later this month to press U.S. endorsement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to a USTR statement released Aug. 6. The ambassador is slated to visit Japan, a recent admission to TPP negotiations, on Aug. 19. Froman will also attend an Aug. 20-23 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting in Brunei. The ASEAN meetings will be held on the margins of the 19th round of TPP negotiations, USTR said.
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The TPP will prospectively cover “nearly 40 percent of global GDP and about one-third of all world trade,” according to a previous USTR assessment (see 13072601). The USTR Aug. 6 statement said the Brunei meeting with ASEAN ministers will provide a platform for U.S. and Asian business leaders to discuss Southeast Asian economic opportunities with ASEAN trade ministers. U.S. lawmakers and administration officials have repeatedly expressed support for concluding TPP negotiations by the end of 2013 (see 13071818).
“Through the TPP, the United States is seeking to advance a 21st-century trade and investment framework that will boost competitiveness, expand trade and investment with the robust economies of the Asia Pacific, and support the creation and retention of U.S. jobs while promoting core U.S. principles on labor rights, environmental protection, and transparency,” the USTR Aug. 6 statement said.