TPP - Hanoi2014

HANOI -- At the end of 10 days of plodding Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks here, a rough plan for the next steps toward crafting some sort of TPP outcome by early November appears to be emerging, though many critical questions remain unanswered, according to private-sector and official sources. Multiple sources said TPP countries are now planning to hold yet another chief negotiators' meeting in mid- or late October, most likely in Sydney. Still unclear is whether those talks would involve...

At the conclusion of a 10-day Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) meeting in Hanoi, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that negotiators made progress in a number of areas including rules on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and intellectual property (IP), but did not provide further details or give any indication of when TPP countries would hold their next meeting. In a Sept. 10 press release, USTR said the 12 TPP countries during the Hanoi meeting “successfully resolved many issues and narrowed...

An update to New Zealand's patent law slated to enter into force this month is at odds with two U.S. demands in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, specifically that countries allow extension of pharmaceutical patent terms to compensate for delays in regulatory approval, and allow patents to be issued for certain types of medical procedures, according to private-sector sources. The new law, which was passed by New Zealand's Parliament in August 2013 and enters into force on Sept. 13, does...

The United States and Japan claimed to have made progress in three days of bilateral talks on auto trade held last week in parallel to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but a Japanese official signaled the discussions remain in the same, final phase they have been at for months. "We are making progress, but we have not yet achieved any agreement," Japanese foreign ministry official Takeo Mori told reporters on Sept. 5 after a three-day meeting in Washington with Acting Deputy...

HANOI -- A high-level Vietnamese government delegation is planning to travel to Washington next week to discuss the country's priorities in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other issues in meetings with U.S. officials, lawmakers, and business groups, according to sources briefed on the details of the trip. The delegation will be led by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh and Vietnam's chief TPP negotiator, Vice Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, sources said. During his visit, Vu...

HANOI -- Ambassador Hiroshi Oe, Japan's lead agricultural negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), wrapped up several days of bilateral talks with TPP parties other than the United States here on Sept. 7, before returning to Tokyo to engage in another round of negotiations with U.S. officials later in the week. Oe's meetings here focused both on briefing other delegations about the status of the Japan-U.S. agricultural market access talks and on holding bilateral negotiations, an official confirmed. It is...

HANOI -- The Mexican government floated here a revised version of its previous proposal for how long developing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries would have to phase in the intellectual property (IP) protection standard for pharmaceuticals under a TPP deal, according to sources familiar with the idea. Mexico had previously proposed that developing countries would have to begin applying the TPP IP standard once they surpass a certain ranking on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). The revised Mexican proposal...

In conversations with labor union representatives, U.S. trade officials have been putting a new emphasis on the notion that the U.S. approach in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would allow for Vietnam's commercial benefits to be withdrawn if the country did not live up to its labor rights commitments in the agreement, sources said. These comments are creating some uncertainty among unions about whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is merely referring to the possibility that Vietnam's commercial benefits...

HANOI -- Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries meeting here faced a formidable list of demands from Vietnam to exempt many of its state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from new rules that the United States hopes will counteract the competition-distorting effects of the government assistance such firms enjoy. Vietnam is seeking a huge number of exceptions that amount to essentially seeking to carve out all of its SOEs, sources here said. The long list is unacceptable to the U.S. because it would in effect...

New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser has become the second minister from a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) country to predict that the negotiations will not be concluded this year due to lack of support for doing so in the U.S. Congress, even as President Obama has set a November deadline for producing a substantial outcome in the talks. At an Aug. 5 event hosted by American Chamber of Commerce in Auckland, Groser said he did not expect the negotiations to be...