[CTC] TPP Countries Agree to Keep Trade Deal Alive, Much Work Remains

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/11/10/business/
10reuters-apec-summit.html



REUTERS



*TPP Countries Agree to Keep Trade Deal Alive, Much Work Remains*

*By REUTERS *NOV. 10, 2017, 3:27 P.M. E.S.T.



DANANG, Vietnam — Members of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreed to
continue working on the proposed trade deal despite early Canadian
resistance in talks that had raised new doubts about its survival,
officials said.



According to a draft of the final statement seen by Reuters and due to be
released on Saturday in Vietnam, the 11 countries committed to "the core
elements" of a deal while making clear more work remains.



Moving ahead with TPP would be a boost for the principle of multilateral
trade agreements after U.S. President Donald Trump ditched it this year in
favor of an "America First" policy that he reiterated at an Asia-Pacific
summit in Vietnam.



Any kind of TPP deal looked in doubt earlier in the week after officials
said Vietnam's chief negotiator had walked out of one round of talks and
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau then skipped a leaders' meeting on
the pact.



Negotiators returned to the table on Friday and agreed on some basics of
what they called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for
Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).



Partly to counter China's growing dominance in Asia, Japan had been
lobbying hard for the TPP pact, which aims to eliminate tariffs on
industrial and farm products across the 11-nation bloc whose trade totalled
$356 billion last year.



The final statement said a "limited set of provisions" from the original
deal would be suspended, adding further technical work was needed on four
areas that still needed consensus "to prepare finalised text for signature".



It did not say when that might happen.



"There is a lot of work left to be done but I think we have made good
progress today," Canadian Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told
reporters in Vietnam late on Friday.



Canada, which has the second biggest economy among remaining TPP countries
after Japan, had said it wanted to ensure an agreement that would protect
jobs.



Champagne, who blamed "a misunderstanding about the schedule" for Trudeau's
absence, specifically mentioned the auto sector and cultural protection as
areas needing more work.



Speaking separately, a Canadian official said the nations had "agreed to a
framework towards the deal" with work programs to handle various
outstanding issues.



As well as the cuts to tariffs, the TPP agreement has provisions for
protecting the environment, workers' rights and intellectual property - one
of the major sticking points after the departure of the United States.



Canada's position has been further complicated by the fact that it is
simultaneously renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with
the Trump administration.



At a speech in Danang, Trump set out a strong message making clear he was
only interested in bilateral deals in Asia which would never put the United
States at a disadvantage.



China's President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, used the same forum to stress
multilateralism and said globalization was an irreversible trend.



APEC, whose leaders hold their full summit on Saturday, has itself been
buffeted by the changes under Trump.



Talks between trade and foreign ministers from the group failed to reach
agreement on their usual joint statement in the face of U.S. demands to
remove language about supporting free trade and fighting protectionism.



(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in OTTAWA and Mai Nguyen in
DANANG; Writing by Matthew Tostevin; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Tom
Brown)

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826
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