[CTC] Froman non-committal on timing for TPP conclusion

[Arthur Stamoulis]

POLITICO

Froman non-committal on timing for TPP conclusion

6/25/15 12:30 PM EDT
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman today wouldn't say whether he expects to be able to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership through Congress by the end of the year, but said he'd been staying in "constant touch" with the other TPP countries.

"It'll be summer someplace," he joked when asked if the deal would be concluded in the summer or the fall. He said there would be more meetings among the countries in the coming days, and then "when we think we're ready to close, we'll convene the chief negotiators and ministers" to close out the most politically sensitive issues.

On Japan, he said the next bilateral meeting for the parallel talks on agriculture, autos and non-tariff measures had not yet been scheduled, though the two sides remain in communication. He did not answer whether he expected the talks to be concluded quickly, now that the president has secured renewal of trade promotion authority.

He also said the U.S. is waiting for Canada "to come to the table with a meaningful offer" on dairy and poultry market access. Froman spoke as part of a competitiveness event hosted by Foreign Policy magazine.

— Victoria Guida


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20150625/e7e5c8dc/attachment.htm>