TPP players to sign deal in February
After the 12 members of the TPP pact reached a broad consensus on the trade deal in October 2015, the ministers responsible for the agreement will meet in either the US or New Zealand to sign the document on TPP this February.
The signing to confirm the exact wording of the TPP free trade deal will help kick-start domestic procedures for TPP ratification and approval.
News of the progress on the TPP front comes after an American economist at the Ohio State University published a report saying that TPP could “significantly boost” the export potential of American farmers.
TPP to generate $225bn
“TPP is important as it is the largest regional free trade agreement that has been struck in the past two decades… and is expected to increase US access to several countries that do not currently have a free trade agreement with the US,” said Ian Sheldon, professor of international trade at Ohio State University in December 2015.
Sheldon added: “The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates that, under TPP, $225bn will be added to global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025, including $77bn to the US GDP.”
He added that data he had reviewed from the US Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service has predicted TPP would increase agriculture trade by over 6% during the next nine years.
And in countries like Japan, around half of the US exports of beef and pork, among other agriculture products, will face zero tariffs once TPP has been put into effect.
“With Japan being the fifth-largest agricultural export market, accounting for over $13bn worth of US exports, reduction in their agricultural tariffs has been a long-held objective of US trade policy, and one not addressed as yet in the World Trade Organization,” added Sheldon.
The TPP is an ambitious trade deal set up between America and 11 other Pacific Rim nations. The 11 signatory countries participating in the TPP free trade deal are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
