The dozen Pacific basin countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement reached yet another impasse Sunday night, delaying once again the signing of the deal, after five days of talks.
On Saturday, Japan’s economy minister had said that on Sunday an important announcement would be made surrounding the TPP negotiations, but later in the day, various sources said the statement had been delayed until Monday.
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After five years of negotiations, many officials felt that this last round of talks would have been the best opportunity to have finished with an agreement, and after very tense conversations regarding biotech pharmaceuticals, a TPP accord seemed right on track.
The Australian minister of trade, Andrew Robb, said the delay came after the TPP partners took a look at the terms of a commitment over the monopoly period pharmaceutical companies would be given for their new biological medicines.
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But negotiators from New Zealand were also pressuring in order to gain greater access to foreign markets for their export dairy products.
“We are still missing an agreement for the access to the dairy products markets,” an official said, according to Reuters.
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The organizers were so sure they would be announcing a signed agreement that they set up a platform in Atlanta, Georgia, at the convention center, but by late Sunday night a U.S. government website that was going to broadcast the news conference live, announced the event was “delayed until further notice.”
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The TPP is said to be aimed at reducing taxes among the 12 TPP countries and creating a free trade zone that amounts to 40 percent of the world economy. The regional bloc would include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States.
The TPP deal is considered controversial by many, since it will involve two fifths of the global economy and all economic sectors – including agricultural goods, textiles, the automobile industry, internet, healthcare, financial controls, etc. – and is being discussed entirely in secret.
The little the public does know about the deal was learned through documents leaked earlier this year. The papers reveal that the TPP will allow multinationals to sue governments if laws are created that harm business; allow pharmaceutical companies to monopolize world drug prices; undermine internet freedoms; and could force the mass privatization of state-owned enterprises.
A decision had originally been expected by Wednesday.
Some of the sticking points in the negotiations have been agricultural issues relating to dairy, rice and sugar, as well as details in the auto sector, which caused Canada and Mexico to walk away from negotiating tables in Hawaii earlier this year.
According to Canada, the TPP stands to hurt its dairy industry – which is currently protected by high import tariffs – and its automotive industry by opening them up to more foreign competition.
Countries such as Japan, the second largest economy in the bloc next to the U.S., are under pressure to make an agreement and open up its agricultural sector to more imports and get a good deal on its automotive industry.
Trade ministers have also been sparring over some of the more controversial elements of the deal, such as biologics exclusivity. This U.S. proposal will extend marketing exclusivity periods for biologics (medical products derived from living organisms), which would allow major pharmaceutical companies to monopolize certain drugs and increase prices, including many new and forthcoming cancer treatments.
“The U.S. proposal would give pharmaceutical companies additional monopoly protections at the expense of public budgets and people’s health,” said Public Citizen, a U.S. based non-profit, consumer rights think tank, in a press release Wednesday.
Protesters around the world are have expressed their rejection to the TPP agreement, saying that as always, the United States seeks benefits for their multinational companies in detriment of equality and poverty reduction.