Trans-pacific Partnership - Research Paper Example

Trans-pacific Partnership Introduction The Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement came into effect in the year 2005. This was a free trade agreement which was enacted with the aim of further liberalizing the various Asia-Pacific economies (“Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement”). The negotiations for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) began in 2007, which was actually an expanded version of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement and included a larger number of countries. There has been an ongoing negotiations of TPP and has drawn several protests and criticisms from the elected officials, advocacy groups, and public, mainly due to the secrecy involved in these negotiations, the wide scope of the agreement and a large number of controversial clauses that had been found in the drafts that had already leaked to the public. The primary goal of the TPP negotiations is creating a platform that can lead to economic integration amongst the nations in the Asia Pacific region (“Background and Negotiations”). Historical Context Initially, the Trans-Pacific Partnership was known as Pacific Three Closure Economic Partnership (P3-CEP). The negotiations related to this agreement began in 2002 in one of the meetings attended by the leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). This meeting of the APEC body took place in Lao Cabos, Mexico, and some of the prominent leaders who participated in this meeting were Ricardo Lagos, the President of Chile; Goh Chok Tong, the Prime Minister of Singapore; and Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand. The trade bloc was renamed to Pacific-4 (P4) in 2005 when Brunei was included as a full negotiating party. As a matter of fact, all the negotiating and original parties were APEC members, but TPP was not an initiative taken up by the APEC body. They original TPP agreement was signed on 3 June 2005 by Chile, Brunei, Singapore and New Zealand and was enacted on 28 May 2006. TPP is considered to be a comprehensive free trade agreement between the negotiating parties which have an impact on goods traded worldwide, the trade remedies, rules of origin, sanitary measures, various types of technical barriers experienced in trade, services trading, trade in intellectual property, competition policy and government procurement. One of the most important clauses in this trade agreement is the proposed elimination of trade tariffs between the member countries by the end of 2005 (“Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement”). Negotiations are being carried out by several other nations of the world like Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, Mexico, Japan, Canada, and United States to become a member of the group (“Additional Strides Made at Tenth Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Round”). It was decided at the 2010 APEC Summit that the negotiations would be settled down by the end of next APEC Summit in 2011 wherein a proposal by Barack Obama, the President of United States, was endorsed by the corresponding leaders of nine different negotiating countries. However, the negotiations have not ended yet and are still continuing. It has been decided that the 15th round of TPP negotiations would be held in December 2012 it Auckland, New Zealand (“Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): 15th Round of TPP Negotiations Set for Auckland, New Zealand -- December 3-12, 2012”). Key Features TPP agreement has been considered to be a landmark agreement between several nations of the world with the objectives of promoting economic development, growth, and innovation; supporting retention and creation of new jobs; and enhancing investment and trade amongst the partner countries of TPP. Some of the key features of TPP agreement have been discussed below: This agreement would ensure access to different markets in a comprehensive manner that is meant to eliminate the trade barriers between nations (Armstrong). TPP is meant to be a fully regional agreement which would ensure the development of supply chains and production facilities amongst the members of TPP. TPP would help in addressing four main trade issues like the coherence in regulatory norms in different nations related to trade of goods and services, market competitiveness at the regional levels of the economies of TPP countries, international trade by the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and strong market liberalization in the TPP countries. TPP is supposed to bring about the creation of new challenges in the field of promoting investment and trade in innovative services and products in the TPP region. TPP agreement is set to be an ongoing and live agreement to enable necessary updates to the different agreement clauses as and when the situation for such changes arises in future and in case there would be the scope to include more nations under its purview (“Outlines of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement”). Benefits for United States In November 2009, President Barack Obama first announced his intentions to participate in the TPP negotiations. The President highlighted the fact that this agreement would help in boosting the growth of US economy and lead to retention and creation of jobs of high quality in the country by fostering the country’s exports to such regions which are considered to be the most robust economies of the world at present and where the major portion of the global trade activities are concentrated. According to Obama, participating in the TPP agreement would help in resolving several issues faced by the American businesses and workers today. TPP has been regarded as an important part of the Obama Administration Strategy which would lead to the involvement of United States in the Asia Pacific region. The markets in the Asia-Pacific are huge and have been growing at an unprecedented rate. It has already become one of the most important destinations for the trade of US manufactured products and services. The TPP nations have been ranked as the fourth largest services and goods export market of the country (Fergusson 24). The SMEs of United States also have strong participation in the export market of the TPP region (“The United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership”). Criticisms against TPP As mentioned earlier, the TPP negotiations have been protested and criticized by the public mainly due to three reasons. They are: a) the negotiations are being taken up by the country leaders in a secret way, and the public is completely unaware of the talks and negotiations taking place regarding the development of TPP agreement; b) the agreement is not restricted to trade relations between nations only but addresses several other issues concerning the participating nations; and c) several controversial clauses mentioned in the drafts of the TPP agreement have leaked to the public. The leaked documents of the TPP agreement indicate some issues related to limiting the access of public to some of the affordable medicines and various other concerns related to consumer protections, environmental regulations, etc (“Critics Decry Secrecy, Corporate Access to TPP Negotiations”). Overall the lack of transparency is the main issue related to TPP agreement that causes concerns amongst the public (“Problems with the TPP Negotiation Process”). Conclusions TPP agreement and the negotiations between the participating nations are still going on, and the next round of talks is set to begin in December 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand. Gradually, more nations are agreeing to participate in the TPP agreement. The President of United States, Barack Obama, has already announced his intentions to become a part of TPP. TPP is actually a free trade agreement between nations which have a wide scope and is believed to be a landmark in the history of trade agreements. The proposed TPP agreement has been marked with many protests and criticism, mainly because of the lack of transparency involved in the negotiations. However, given the objectives of the TPP and the benefits, it can bring for the economic development of United States and truly become a successful strategic initiative taken up by the US President to help in resolving several issues faced by the American workers and business today. Works Cited “Additional Strides Made at Tenth Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Round.” Office of the United States Trade Representative, 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. . Armstrong, Shiro. “The TPP, APEC and East Asian trade strategies.” East Asia Forum, 14 Nov. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. . “Background and Negotiations.” Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) - Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. SICE, 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. . “Critics Decry Secrecy, Corporate Access to TPP Negotiations.” Economy in Crisis, 28 Sep. 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. . Fergusson, Ian F. “The Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations and Issues for Congress.” CRS Report for Congress, 5 Sep. 2012. PDF file. . “Outlines of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.” Office of the United States Trade Representative, 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. . “Problems with the TPP Negotiation Process.” The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. . “The United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.” Office of the United States Trade Representative, 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. . “Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): 15th Round of TPP Negotiations Set for Auckland, New Zealand -- December 3-12, 2012.” Office of the United States Trade Representative, 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. . “Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement.” New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, n.d. PDF file. . Read More