[CTC] USTR: TPP Negotiations Shift Into Higher Gear at 16th Round

[Arthur Stamoulis]

USTR release on Singapore.  Allies we've spoken with there report the  
negotiations did indeed "shift into higher gear," with USTR much more  
willing to compromise (usually in a bad way) than in previous rounds.   
Note the dates for the Lima round formally announced May 15 - 24.


http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2013/march/tpp-negotiations-higher-gear

TPP Negotiations Shift Into Higher Gear at 16th Round
03/13/2013

Singapore – At the close of the 16th Round of Trans-Pacific  
Partnership (TPP) negotiations today, chief negotiators reported that  
they had achieved the goal set for the round: to put the negotiations  
on an accelerated track toward conclusion of a next-generation,  
comprehensive agreement in the 2013 time frame envisioned by President  
Obama and the Leaders of the ten other TPP countries.

Through the TPP, the United States is seeking to help establish a  
trade and investment framework that supports U.S. job creation by  
addressing the issues faced by U.S. stakeholders in the 21st-century,  
promoting U.S. competitiveness, and expanding U.S. trade in the  
dynamic Asia-Pacific region. The United States also is seeking to  
advance core U.S. values in the agreement, such as transparency, labor  
rights, and environmental protection.

U.S. Chief Negotiator and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Barbara  
Weisel reports that building on the consensus the TPP countries have  
already achieved on a significant number of the issues under  
negotiation, during this round the 11 delegations intensified their  
drive to find mutually-acceptable paths forward on the remaining  
issues in the legal texts of the agreement. As a result of active  
intersessional engagement, and the pragmatism and flexibility shown by  
all countries during this round, the delegations succeeded in finding  
solutions to many issues in a wide range of areas such as customs,  
telecommunications, investment, services, technical barriers to trade,  
sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property, regulatory  
coherence, development, and other issues. With this progress, some  
negotiating groups, including customs, telecommunications, regulatory  
coherence, and development will not meet again to discuss the legal  
texts in future rounds and any remaining work in these areas will be  
taken up in late-stage rounds as the agreement is finalized. This will  
allow the TPP countries to concentrate their efforts on resolving the  
most challenging issues that remain, including related to intellectual  
property, competition, and environment.

The 11 countries also made progress during this round in continuing to  
develop the comprehensive packages that will provide market access for  
goods, services and investment, and government procurement. Productive  
exchanges occurred on tariff packages on industrial goods,  
agriculture, and textiles, as well as on rules of origin and how best  
to promote the development of regional supply chains in order to  
benefit companies based in the United States and the other TPP  
countries. In addition, negotiators discussed each country’s proposals  
to open services and investment and government procurement markets.  
The 11 countries agreed on additional intersessional work to build on  
market access advances made since the last round, to continue movement  
toward outcomes consistent with the high level of ambition that  
Leaders agreed to seek.

On March 6, the TPP negotiations adjourned temporarily so that  
negotiators could engage with the more than 300 stakeholders from TPP  
countries who registered to join the stakeholder events in Singapore.  
In response to stakeholder requests, Singapore arranged both for  
direct stakeholder engagement with negotiators and for 60 stakeholders  
to make presentations on a wide variety of issues. Also that day,  
Weisel and fellow Chief Negotiators briefed stakeholders and took  
questions on the substance and process of the TPP talks.

In mid-April, TPP Trade Ministers will meet on the margins of the APEC  
Trade Ministers meeting in Surabaya, Indonesia to discuss progress to  
date and provide further guidance to negotiators. As the negotiations  
draw to a close, high-level officials will be more actively engaged  
with one another on ways to address the remaining sensitive issues.

The 17th round of TPP negotiations will be held in Lima, Peru, from  
May 15-24.
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