[CTC] TPP Legal Scrub Meeting In Mexico, ASEAN Trade Ministerial Starts

[Arthur Stamoulis]

IUST

TPP Legal Scrub Meeting In Mexico, ASEAN Trade Ministerial Starts

Posted: August 17, 2015 
Amid an apparent lull in the negotiations, officials from Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will gather this week in Mexico to continue the legal scrub of provisions of the deal that have already been agreed, marking the highlight of a work week in U.S. trade policy that will be otherwise quiet due to the congressional recess and summer vacations.

But the trade action will begin picking up this weekend, when economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their key trading partners begin meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

The meeting, which lasts from Aug. 22-25, could provide an opportunity for key TPP countries to meet bilaterally or in small groups to resolve key outstanding issues such as the automotive rule of origin and dairy market access.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Assistant USTR Barbara Weisel, the chief U.S. negotiator for TPP, will attend a portion of the ASEAN economic ministers meeting, according to the July edition of U.S.-ASEAN Business Council newsletter. USTR officials have no public events this week, according to an agency schedule.

The legal scrub meeting in Mexico this week will focus on reviewing issues and elements of the TPP negotiations that have been already completed. One informed source said officials will work on finalizing the wording of the chapters that are already closed.

TPP countries have long been conducting a legal scrub <http://insidetrade.com/node/143770> of the completed portions of the agreement. U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President for Asia Tami Overby said earlier this month that TPP parties have advanced to the point that they have been scrubbing the text that is not agreed as well, and have been doing so for months.

At the negotiating round in Maui late last month, TPP countries managed to substantially close <http://insidetrade.com/node/149239> four or five difficult chapters, including investment, environment, government procurement and electronic commerce. In addition, TPP negotiators also reached agreement on how to handle geographical indications (GIs), sources said.

But even as TPP countries gather in Mexico to finalize those commitments, it has now become clear that the talks will not be concluded until September at the earliest.

Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo last week held open the possibility that it could take several months before the TPP talks are concluded.

“We hope to conclude [the TPP] in the coming months,” he told the Mexico-Chile Investment and Business Forum on Aug. 14, according to a transcript provided by his office. He added that this would happen when parties are able to find some accommodations on the key outstanding issues.

“We just finished the TPP negotiation in Hawaii where we are very close to the conclusion, but there are very important issues that still keep us from reaching our goal,” he said.

Although TPP is facing a new delay, U.S. officials, business representatives and other supporters are now setting their sights on 2016 <http://insidetrade.com/node/149343> for Congress to consider a completed agreement and downplaying the notion that the presidential election season makes such a vote too difficult.

Several sources said they are eyeing a window for congressional approval sometime during the spring after the major U.S. presidential primaries take place, namely "Super Tuesday" on March 1, when 11 states will hold nominating contests. Some sources described this window as encompassing March and April, while others said it stretched through May.

Taking place concurrently with the ASEAN economic ministerial in Kuala Lumpur is a meeting in the Philippines of senior officials from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to lay the groundwork for the Nov. 18-19 leaders' meeting. The third meeting of senior APEC officials, and related working-group meetings, will take place in Cebu from Aug. 22 to Sept. 6.

This will include an Aug. 30 meeting of the task force on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), which is preparing a strategic study on the idea of a region-wide FTA that has long been the goal of APEC economies.

Finally, the U.S. government will co-host a workshop Aug. 19-20 in Fiji about expanding trade between the U.S. and Pacific Island nations. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Kurt Tong will lead the U.S. delegation to the workshop, according to an Aug. 16 State Department release.

The workshop is being co-hosted by the secretariat of the Pacific Islands Forum, a group that includes the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Tonga. Many members of the Pacific Islands Forum currently receive unilateral trade preferences from the United States under the Generalized System of Preferences, but are looking to expand those benefits.

Among the issues to be discussed at the workshop “are navigating agricultural market opportunities for Pacific Island products; fisheries trade and development in the Pacific; accessing opportunities through trade and investment with the United States; and supply chain connectivity in the Pacific,” the release said.

“The workshop will also facilitate initial discussions on ways to strengthen trade and investment between the Pacific Islands and the United States,” it added.


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