[CTC] Obama Pushes For Flexibility On Key Issues In Calls With TPP Leaders

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Obama Pushes For Flexibility On Key Issues In Calls With TPP Leaders
Posted: September 28, 2015
Inside US Trade

ATLANTA -- Ahead of a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial meeting here later this week, President Obama has begun calling TPP leaders to press them for flexibility on specific outstanding issues in the negotiations, including the term of market exclusivity for biologics medicines, according to informed sources.

Obama pressed Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on the biologics issue during a phone call Sunday (Sept. 27), sources said. Chile has generally taken the position in the TPP negotiations that it does not want to go beyond the intellectual property (IP) obligations included in the U.S.-Chile free trade agreement, which does not include commitments on biologics.

The U.S. is currently seen as pushing for eight years of biologics market exclusivity, after compromising at the July ministerial on its earlier demands for 12 years.

Prior to calling Bachelet, Obama phoned Peruvian President Ollanta Humala on Sept. 24 and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Sept. 23 to discuss the TPP negotiations, according to separate White House readouts. Peru is taking a defensive position on biologics and Mexico on the automotive rules of origin.

Sources last week said they expected Obama had pressed Pena Nieto to show flexibility on the automotive rules of origin in order to clear the way for a broader TPP deal. A wide variety of stakeholders at the negotiations here identified auto rules of origin as the key sticking point that is holding up progress on other issues.

The White House announced all three calls, but did not say which specific outstanding issues were discussed.

Obama and Bachelet "discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, highlighting the importance of the initiative for our bilateral and regional economic cooperation and agreeing on the need for further progress in resolving remaining issues," the White House said in a Sept. 27 statement.

Meanwhile, Obama and Humala "agreed on the importance of an agreement with high standards and of concluding negotiations swiftly," according to the Sept. 24 White House readout. Neither the Chilean or Peruvian governments issued their own readouts of the calls.

Obama will have a chance to talk to additional TPP leaders, including New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, during the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York. Key told TVNZ he hopes to meet with Obama to discuss the TPP negotiations, where New Zealand is pressing for more access to the U.S. dairy market.
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