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BEIJING, Oct. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- On Monday, the US, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries reached an agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Combined, the nations' GDP accounts for 40% of the global economy. What's the TPP and what benefits could it bring its members?
Five years after they began, negotiations to form the largest free trade bloc in the world - are complete. 12 Pacific rim nations - soon to be under one set of rules and regulations for trade.
The agreement eliminates or reduces tariffs, lifts favoritism for state owned enterprises, protects intellectual property, extends unionization rights and creates a dispute settlement mechanism.
This is a massive achievement in reducing that red tape.
Regional auto trade is a big winner under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. U.S. automakers will get access to Japan's long-closed market, and Japanese automakers will have greater flexibility on sourcing auto parts.
But biotech drugmakers got less intellectual property protections than they wanted before their research can be used to make generic drugs.
And even after last minute-negotiations, some dairy tariffs still remain. New Zealand-based Fonterra which supplies one third of the world's dairy exports- released a statement of disappointment... leaving the trade minister to take the long view.
China - the second-largest trading partner in the region is not a party to the T-P-P. It's leading a broad trade pact of its own with 15 other nations in the region... some of which are also now part of the T-P-P.
These are both complimentary arrangements for a trading nation like Malaysia.
The T-P-P has major opposition from labor organizers and environmental advocates, who say developing economies like Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei - can't meet its ambitious standards. But Vietnam's trade minister says the nation has already signed onto existing international labor rules which protect workers' rights.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
