WASHINGTON, DC (Herald de Paris) -- According to the White House, on 4 February 2016 the much debated Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, TPP, is due to be signed in New Zealand, at a Trade Minister level. However, in the United States, the Agreement is yet to be passed by Congress.
The agreement is, in essence, a free trade agreement. Twelve countries came together with the aim of liberalizing trade and investment in the Pacific Rim. Each country came to the negotiating table with a clear strategy and list of gains it wished to see. As with any negotiations in any sphere of business, each country won some gains and compromised in others. The United States has been most concerned about high taxes imposed on its product overseas.
As White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest explained directly to the Herald de Paris in a Press Briefing at the White House today, "Right now we've got 18,000 American goods that are facing taxes that are imposed by other countries and we believe we should cut those taxes." Likewise, for countries such as New Zealand and Australia, tariffs are a big issue and this agreement would provide immediate economic benefit for exporters, particularly from reduced tariff rates. The TPP also brings greater bargaining power to regional economies.
The US joined the TPP in September, 2008 and the first round of negotiations were held in 2010. It has been significaant work to get to this point. The TPP is there to aid in the setting of a new and higher standard for trade and investment in the Asia Pacific region, generating substantial long-term economic and strategic benefits for each of the countries involved. In basic terms to create a fairer platform for importing and exporting. Party to the Agreement are New Zealand, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.
On one level, the TPP is a magnificent feat -- to have such diverse range of cultures and varying economies of scale to come together in any kind of progressive and positive agreement. It would be apt to say that, after 19 rounds of negotiation, all countries participating are keen to ratify the agreement. There are, of course detractors.
In New Zealand, these seem mainly couched in not knowing enough about the agreement, and the fact that information about it is not being made publicly available. The irony is, if you have any research capabilities you can find the agreement in full, relatively easily, on the Internet in several countries. The process the US is goes through is that the TPP gets debated both in the corridors of power, and among the public.
It is this democratic process that New Zealand opponents appear to be seeking, and wish for in their own country. However, ironically, according to the Internet, at the same time the New Zealand public are fearful of U.S. overreach in the agreement itself. Detractors say the TPP may reach beyond borders and into smaller countries' own regulatory processes.
This appears not to be entirely based in reality, as in essence, by a country being part of the TPP, it allows for negotiations between all countries. - See more at: http://www.heralddeparis.com/tpp-set-to-be-signed-in-new-zealand-tomorrow-prior-to-congressional-ratification/#sthash.gMs1sPl5.dpuf