TPP deal signed in New Zealand

Trade ministers from 12 countries yesterday signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement in Auckland, New Zealand, an agreement that excludes tobacco interests from its Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions.

According to a BBC Online story relayed by the TMA, the 12 countries, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam, account for about 40 percent of the global economy.

They now have two years to complete necessary domestic legislative procedures and ratify the agreement; or reject it.

The TPP was agreed in October 2015 after five years of negotiations.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman said the deal could add US$100 billion annually to the US economy. He described the signing of the TPP as “an important milestone in our efforts to set high-standard rules of the road in the Asia Pacific region and more generally, and to deliver an agreement that will benefit American workers, farmers and businesses”.

Opponents of the TPP say the agreement benefits big business rather than workers.