Trans-Pacific Partnership: 11 trade ministers reach deal to keep deal alive
Saturday, 11 November 2017
Crisis talks among Trans Pacific Partnership ministers appear to have pulled the free trade pact back from the brink of collapse, although it still faces an uncertain future.
Late on Friday Canada boycotted a meeting of leaders from the 11 nations involved, throwing the deal into disarray.
But after trade ministers met, with Canada back at the table, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Saturday that though 'clarification' was still needed it was sill alive.
She had the impression Canada was back on board: 'We are in a more stable place than we were yesterday.'
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But she was still not clear why Canada had not shown at the leaders' meeting.
Trade Minister David Parker, who was part of the crisis meeting, said the text had been 'stabilised' so there was a legal agreement about 'just about all of it. The 'just about' could be important'.
He said there were four provisions of the original TPP that were suspended and work needed to be done on those.
The name of the agreement has also been changed from TPP to CPTPP - the comprehensive progressive TPP.
Parker said it was the most comprehensive agreement when it came to labour laws, environmental standards and the right to regulate that there had ever been in a trade agreement.
That included enforcement mechanisms that can in the end result in trade sanctions if parties breach those standards.
Parker said on contentious investor-state dispute resolution clauses, New Zealand had tried to get rid of them completely but was unsuccessful.
'We narrowed the scope of them and we have a side arrangement with Australia which means that 80 per cent of the foreign direct investment into New Zealand from TPP countries is not covered by ISDS clauses at all.'
There were 'a number of other bilateral arrangements in place' on ISDS that he could not yet talk about.
'We have made substantial progress on ISDS clauses in just a matter of weeks.'
Ardern said the CPTPP was a different one than the TPP before the United States withdrew.
She added it was disappointing the Government only had two week to change what National could have tried to achieve had it negotiated differently.
Parker said the suggestion Canada had problems was because Labour standards were not resolved was not right.
That implied wrongly that New Zealand was not standing up and was not successful on labour standards.
There was no plan at this stage for the CPTPP leaders to meet again at Apec.
TPP opponent Auckland University law professor Jane Kelsey said she was 'disappointed, but not surprised' the Labour government had endorsed the TPP, with the suspension of a limited range of items.
GOING WITHOUT THE US
The TPP member countries were trying to find a way forward without the US, the biggest economy and, before President Donald Trump took office, one of its most assertive supporters.
Trump had said he preferred country-to-country deals and was seeking to renegotiate several major trade agreements to, as he said, 'put America first.'
Trump reiterated his markedly different stance on trade before the 21-member Apec summit convened late Friday with a gala banquet.
The US president told an Apec business conference that 'we are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore.'
He lambasted the World Trade Organisation and other trade forums as unfair to the United States and reiterated his preference for bilateral trade deals, saying 'I am always going to put America first.'
Trump said he would not enter into large trade agreements, alluding to US involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the TPP.
In contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the same group that nations need to stay committed to economic openness or risk being left behind.
The Chinese president drew loud applause when he urged support for the 'multilateral trading regime' and progress toward a free-trade zone in the Asia-Pacific.
China was not part of the TPP.
Apec operated by consensus and customarily issued non-binding statements. TPP commitments would eventually be ratified and enforced by its members.
But even talks this week on a declaration to cap the Apec summit had to be extended for an extra half day as ministers haggled over wording.
It's unclear what the exact sticking points were, but officials have alluded to differences over the unequal impact more open trade has had on workers and concerns over automation in manufacturing that could leave many millions in a wide array of industries with no work to do.
As a developing country with a fast-growing export sector, this year's host country, Vietnam, has a strong interest in open trade and access for its exports to consumers in the West.
The summit is an occasion for its leaders to showcase the progress its economy has made thanks largely to foreign investment and trade.
Da Nang, Vietnam's third-largest city, is in the midst of a construction boom as dozens of resorts and smaller hotels pop up along its scenic coastline.
Apec's members are New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.
- Stuff, with AP