TPP Ministers Vow to Press Negotiations Forward, Following Singapore Summit
The ministers and heads of delegation for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) participant nations pledged to reconvene next month after a four day summit in Singapore, said USTR in a Dec. 10 statement (here) that suggests the pact may not be sealed…
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before the end of the year. The Obama Administration has continued to push to close the pact in the coming weeks, but TPP documents leaked on Dec. 8 allegedly depict deep remaining divisions (see 13120924). “We will continue to work with flexibility to finalize these text issues as well as market access issues,” said the statement. The leaked documents, released by WikiLeaks, claim to show the U.S. is applying “great pressure” to convince other nations to agree to its positions, according to WikiLeaks. The documents also describe specific outstanding issues, also known as brackets. The U.S. stance on pharmaceutical patent extensions and data exclusivity are particularly contentious, said Public Citizen Global Trade Watch Director Lori Wallach on Dec. 9 (see 13120927). Nonetheless, a final TPP agreement will generate an additional $123.5 billion in U.S. exports by 2025, said USTR in a separate release (here). USTR did not respond for comment.