TPP Participants Likely to Convene February Ministerial Summit, Says USTR Official
The U.S. and the 11 other Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) participant nations will likely convene a TPP ministerial summit in February, said Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Wendy Cutler at a Center for Strategic and International Studies Jan. 22 event on the U.S.-Australian alliance. Logistical and scheduling issues prevent a summit prior to that date, said Cutler.
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“In the meantime we are very, very busy engaging with our TPP counterparts at all levels. We have negotiating teams in Southeast Asia as we speak,” said Cutler. USTR chief Michael Froman will continue meeting with TPP ministers at the World Economic Forum summit until his departure on Jan. 25, Cutler said, adding that Froman spoke with Japanese Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari on the phone earlier in the week.
Passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is critical to achieving TPP ratification, said Cutler. The Jan. 9 introduction of TPA stirred support and criticism (see 14011013). "TPA is a high priority for the administration. We are now working intensively with Congress," said Cutler. "Ambassador Froman is up on the Hill night and day working on this," she said. "Particularly as we enter the end game of TPP, our trade partners are asking about TPA." Following the conclusion of TPP negotiations, participant nations will still, however, also have to work out their domestic procedures in order to ratify a pact, warned Cutler.
Nonetheless, "we are now in the end game of the TPP negotiations and momentum is building to close the remaining gaps and achieve agreements,” said Cutler. “Ministers held a very successful meeting in December in Singapore, where they identified landing zones for the vast majority of outstanding issues. TPP countries also worked intensively on advancing market access negotiations for goods, agriculture and services.” The pact remains a “living agreement,” and the U.S. and Australia should continue to pursue membership from interested parties, such as South Korea, said Cutler.
Cutler refused to comment specifically on whether the U.S. would make tariff concessions on sugar access that Australian counterparts may determine palatable. “All countries have sensitivities in the TPP and they’re bringing these sensitivities to the table,” said Cutler. “The most sensitive and difficult issues are the ones that are really worked out in the end game of negotiations.”