TPP - Lima2013

Chris De Cure late last month replaced Hamish McCormick as Australia's chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. De Cure headed up the Australian delegation for the first time at the 17th round of TPP negotiations, which concluded last week in Peru. De Cure formally succeeded McCormick as first assistant secretary in the Office of Trade Negotiations in Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on April 29, according to a DFAT spokeswoman. McCormick left that post to...

A senior representative of U.S. automobile companies late last week made clear that a U.S. government decision to subject automotive tariffs to the longest possible phaseout in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will not likely ease the industry's opposition to Japan's participation in that agreement. One reason is that U.S. automakers consider Japanese monetary policy that promotes a low-value yen a much more critical factor than tariffs in terms of contributing to the U.S. auto trade imbalance with Japan. Japan's government...

LIMA -- Chief negotiators from Vietnam and Mexico last week welcomed the fact that the U.S. tabled an initial "short-supply" list of yarns and fabrics that would be subject to a more flexible rule of origin under a final Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, but said they would need more time to analyze it before providing a formal response. "We need some more time to have consultations with our business community in order to give the estimate and give our consideration...

LIMA -- At the conclusion of the 17th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks here, Peru's chief negotiator announced that Japan will be able to participate in a portion of the next round of negotiations -- slated to take place July 15-25 in Malaysia -- upon the conclusion of a 90-day consultation period within the United States. The 90-day consultation period between the Obama administration and Congress regarding Japan's entry ends on July 23, and Japan cannot officially participate --...

A group of more than 50 state legislators from 24 states this week urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to negotiate provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that would allow the Department of Energy (DOE) to maintain control over liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and would subject environmental obligations in TPP to binding dispute settlement procedures. When it comes to LNG, current U.S. law requires DOE to accept applications to export natural gas unless such exports are determined...

A U.S. organization representing family farmers is arguing that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should not be "hypocritical" when engaging with Canada on dairy market access in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks. In a May 10 letter to Demetrios Marantis -- who until this week served as Acting USTR -- the National Farmers Union (NFU) argued that U.S. negotiators "should not force other countries in the TPP to dismantle supply management programs, especially as efforts are currently underway...

Despite mounting pressure on the Obama administration to include provisions to counteract currency manipulation in a final Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement (see related story), several former U.S. trade representatives this week doubted that ambitious language on this issue would ultimately be included and argued that the United States may not even want to pursue binding provisions on currency in TPP in the first place. Bill Brock, who served as USTR during the Reagan administration, voiced the loudest opposition and urged...

LIMA -- Countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) here are debating whether the agreement should allow companies to self-certify that they are meeting the rules of origin required to qualify for TPP tariff cuts or require companies to obtain a formal certificate of origin from an authorized body within the country of export, sources said. During the rules of origin meeting, held May 15-19, negotiators discussed both the self-certification approach used in past U.S. free trade agreements as well as...

LIMA -- Canadian grain, oilseed and pulse producers are pressing for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to include new obligations in the area of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including a commitment by countries to adopt "low level presence" policies under which they would not block shipments containing trace of amounts of GMOs that have been approved in another country to international standards but are not yet approved in their territories. Commitments in the area of GMOs, also known as biotechnology...

LIMA -- As the 17th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks got underway here last week, Chile's former chief negotiator issued a stark warning to the governments of Chile, Peru and Mexico to defend their interests in the negotiations or risk having TPP turn into a threat to their economic and social development. In a Spanish-language op-ed published in the May 16 edition of the Peruvian news weekly Caretas , Rodrigo Contreras urged the Latin American countries participating in TPP...