TPP関係海外情報

最終更新：12年5月8日

2012年

NewNext Round of Pacific Trade Talks Pact to Be Lengthy, Secretive,IPS,12.5.8
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2012 (IPS) - On Tuesday, the latest round of negotiations begins on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), potentially the largest free trade agreement ever signed by the United States.

Despite claims by the U.S. government of considerable transparency in the process, the talks, being held in Dallas, are covering material that has remained almost completely out of the public's eye.

"Because the negotiations have been conducted in extreme secrecy, we have no idea yet what is in the text," says Rashmi Rangnath, a director with Public Knowledge, an advocacy group here in Washington. "What we do know is that lack of transparency tends to skew the text of such agreements in favour of large corporations."

Although a draft of the chapter on intellectual property rights was leaked in February, much of the rest of the 26 chapters have been kept away from public scrutiny.

Some outside of the negotiations have had significant time with the chapters, however. Early drafts of TPP content have reportedly been discussed at length with large corporate interests, such as 20th Century Fox, which has a key stake in intellectual property-related regulations.

Thus far, the justification for this secrecy has been minimal. "Basically we have been told two things," Rangnath says. "First, that this is precedent. And second, that this level of secrecy is necessary during negotiations in order to arrive at a compromise."

The TPP would be a free trade agreement between the U.S. and eight Asia-Pacific countries: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Canada, Japan and Mexico are also expected to join the talks, although the Japanese have yet to make a final decision on the matter.

In addition, the possibility of future Indian and Chinese participation is being held out as a far-off though, for many, tantalising prospect.

Proponents suggest that, if the TPP passes, it could boost intra- regional trade by more than a trillion dollars per year by 2025.

While the official talks are to be held May 11-13, the full 12th round is said to be stretching from May 8-18. This is an unusually lengthy period for face-to-face negotiations, particularly given that the 11th round took place only two months ago, in March in Australia.

According to observers, the administration of President Barack Obama is pushing for as many such rounds as possible before the end of the year, in an attempt to bull through the far-reaching agreement.

It is unclear whether that timetable is possible, however, as pushback against the TPP has continued in recent months, from both governments and civil society.

Over the past week alone, members of the U.S. government have urged President Obama to alter certain draft provisions of the agreement, while a U.S. business lobbyist has rued a great "gap between the ambitious vision of our leaders and what is being proposed at the negotiating table."

Longstanding criticism also has yet to abate. Much of this comes from the fact that, for most countries, the TPP would not offer many trade benefits – including, most importantly, greater access to U.S. markets.

Simultaneously, U.S. negotiators are pushing for significant concessions from potential members.

"This is very unusual for a free trade agreement," says Sean Flynn, director of the Information Justice Program at American University here in Washington. "There is very little 'carrot'" to counteract some of the more strident compromises.

Flynn points out that Chile, Australia, Singapore and Peru have each expressed public reticence over the current contours of the TPP, given that these countries already have expansive trade agreements with the United States.

"This means that Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia would pay the highest cost," he suggests.

According to what has been seen from the leaked chapter on intellectual property rights, Flynn warns, the TPP appears to be pushing a "maximalist", enforcement-focused approach.

This directly counters the "development agenda" that has been evolved in institutions such as the U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), through processes involving significant input by developing countries, outside of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"The U.S. clearly wants to go beyond international standards on intellectual property – beyond WIPO," says Krista Cox, an attorney at Knowledge Ecology International, an NGO here in Washington.

For developing countries, some of the most direct impacts of this expansion of punitive powers over intellectual property could be on health issues.

While U.S. global health policy has seen significant strengthening over the past five years, passage of the TPP "would start rolling this back," warns Peter Maybarduk, director of the Access to Medicines Program at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group here.

Worldwide over the past 10 years, prices for HIV-related medicines, for instance, have fallen by 99 percent, largely driven by competition from generic drugs. While the fight against generics by large pharmaceutical interests has largely shifted away from the WTO, Maybarduk suggests, the TPP agreement signals the next iteration of that effort.

"The TPP could well be the worst that we have seen," Maybarduk says. "Not only does it run contrary to the U.S.'s own pledges on global AIDS work, but the TPP will set the template for the entire Asia- Pacific region. That could have an impact on half of the world's population."

Trans Pacific Partnership: an Economic, Political Opportunity for Obama,Forbes,12.4.30
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougschoen/2012/04/30/trans-pacific-partnership-an-economic-political-opportunity-for-obama/?feed=rss_home

カナダ・ファースト貿易相、乳製品・卵・鶏肉の輸入障壁の一部除去を示唆。米国によるTPP交渉参加承認に向けて前進。

Canada making progress with U.S. in effort to join new TPP trade bloc: Fast,Winnipeg Free Press,12.4.19
OTTAWA - Canada is making progress in convincing the United States that it should be allowed to join an ambitious new trans-Pacific trade bloc, federal Trade Minister Ed Fast said Thursday.
Washington is believed to be one of the key impediments to Ottawa's efforts to join the nine-member Trans-Pacific Partnership, largely because it also wants to protect dairy, egg and poultry farmers in Quebec and Ontario from outside competition.
But the minister, who was attending the inaugural trade ministers meeting of the G20 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Thursday, said he has been working on his U.S. counterpart to sort out their differences.
"In my meetings with Ambassador Ron Kirk, each meeting has been productive," he said in a telephone interview.
"We believe we are making significant progress in impressing upon the United States that Canada will be an ambitious negotiating partner, that we will be a very valuable asset at the negotiating table," he said.
"We've also impressed upon the Americans that Canada and the U.S. should be walking together as partners as we open up new opportunities within the Asian economies. We have highly-integrated economies, supply chains and we should be doing this in partnership."
Fast said Canada's protectionist supply management system should not be an impediment because Canada has agreed to put it on the table in talks, as it has done in other negotiations.
That does not mean Canada would necessarily negotiate the system out of existence, however.
"Since the late 1980s, we've negotiated agreements with 14 countries, (and) in each case we have been successful in addressing the issue of supply management and that has not prevented us from actually completing free trade negotiations," he pointed out.
The goal is to get a deal that benefits the country overall, he said, which suggests Canada may be willing to remove some of the barriers to imports in dairy, eggs and poultry if the price is right.
Fast will also be talking to New Zealand's trade minister, another critic of supply management, at the G20 meetings which end Friday.
　

米議員、日本に改革意欲があるのかの強く疑う

U.S. lawmaker: strong doubt on Japan entry in trade talks,Ruters,12.4.18（）
(Reuters) - A senior U.S. lawmaker on Wednesday expressed strong doubt about Japan's willingness to make significant reforms required under a proposed trade pact, while the top U.S. trade official said there was no timetable for a decision on Japan, Canada and Mexico joining the negotiations.
Representative Sander Levin said concerns about Japan's possible entry in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks were more troublesome than questions still surrounding Mexico and Canada's bid to join negotiations with nine other countries on the regional trade pact.
"I'm not sure that TPP can be the arena for successfully confronting those issues," Levin said, referring to longstanding barriers to Japan's auto and insurance markets. "I think we need to be realistic."
Levin, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, made the comments at an event organized by the Emergency Committee for American Trade, a U.S. business group, to build support for the trade pact, which supporters hope can be concluded this year.
The United States and other current TPP countries - Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Chile, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei - say they want to negotiate a "21st Century" agreement that goes further than previous trade pacts in tearing down barriers to trade and raising international standards in areas like labor and environment.
Japan, Mexico and Canada in November expressed interest in joining the talks. Over the past five months, the current members have been discussing the feasibility of bringing the three countries into the negotiations without lowering ambitions for the agreement or allowing the talks to drag on and on.
MEETING WITH JAPAN'S LEADER
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama on April 30, about two weeks before the nine current TPP members convene in Dallas for the 12th round of negotiations on the proposed pact.
Noda faces opposition at home to the agreement and there are also concerns in the United States his government might not last long enough to finish the talks if Japan is let in.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, asked about the possibility that Noda might simply tell Obama that Japan was no longer interested in joining the TPP, said it would not be appropriate for him to speculate on that.
"We certainly hope their interest is going to be the same," Kirk said, while repeating any new entrant must be prepared to meet the high goals already set for the pact.
Kirk said a decision on the three countries' entry would be made collectively by the current TPP members and be driven by "substance" rather than any deadline.
The preference would be to decide on all three countries at once, but it is also possible that the decisions could be made "sequentially," Kirk said.
In the meantime, negotiations among current TPP members will proceed full speed ahead, with the goal of finishing by year end, Kirk added.
House of Representatives Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, a Republican, said he believed Mexico was "in the best position" now to join the negotiations.
Both Dreier and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat, said they supported all three countries joining the talks, but only if the applicants can convince current TPP members they will not bog down the talks or lower ambitions for the pact.
In the case of Canada, there are still questions about whether it is willing to open its agricultural market further than it has done under the North American Free Trade Agreement and address certain U.S. copyright concerns.
Mexico has pressed for an answer soon on its application, saying it should not be held back by lingering concerns over Japan and Canada. But it is also facing U.S. pressure to do more on intellectual property rights.
　

Trans-Pacific Trade Pact Reveals U.S.’s Unbridled Corporate Agenda,IPS,12.3.9
SYDNEY, Mar. 9, 2012 (IPS) - The 11th round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) talks concluded in Melbourne Friday, with member states suggesting the negotiations had made significant progress but civil society groups reiterating concerns that the United States' corporate demands could undermine social, economic and environmental policies.

China, TPP and Japan's Future in Asia,Forbes,12.3.7

日本はTPPよりも中・日・韓を緊密に結びつける地域FTAを優先せねばならない―陳徳銘中国商務部長、開催中の全人代大会で。

For evidence of China’s vision for an integrated East Asian political economy–binding China, Japan, and Korea–look at remarks of China’s Commerce Minister yesterday in Beijing. Speaking at a press conference during the ongoing Chinese National People’s Congress Minister of Commerce Chen Deming’ssaid of that Japanese entry into negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, if it happens, “Should not be allowed to influence progress on other types of cooperation in the East Asian region.”
Translation: Japan should give priority to and focus first on the talks being promoted by Beijing to create a regional Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which would closely bind China, Japan, and Korea. The next major negotiations of this FTA be held in Beijing in May.
An article in the March 7 Nihon Keizai Shimbun datelined Beijing covers this fascinating and important story. The article presents Beijing’s view that TPP has become a U.S.-driven initiative that would create a literal “pan-Pacific” free trade zone, but exclude China. China wants Japan, as well as South Korea, to be the key members of a ASEAN “+ 3” regional Free Trade Agreement that would bring these countries (with China clearly dominating) together the ten ASEAN countries–Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Brunei. In the past, Japan has been lukewarm toward this initiative, clearly concerned about Chinese dominance, and has proposed–to China’s annoyance–including of India. Recently, apparently sensing a loss of momentum, and the opposite pull of TPP, Beijing seems to have acquiesced in Indian participation.
This week TPP is being hotly debated in Japan’s Diet. Noda has been strong in supporting Japan’s participation. TPP clearly has much to offer Japan. Indeed, big business and manufacturing interests–represented by Keidanren–have been saying that Japan’s accession to an eventual agreement is vital if Japan is not to suffer ruinous competitive decline. And sectors that see TPP as a threat–particularly agriculture–are in most cases resorting to emotion and scare-tactics rather than sober analysis of the TPP’s likely costs and benefits because the case for TPP is persuasive.
Who would have thought, though, that China would be entering the TPP-debate fray? That Beijing has done so is not, in my view, to suggest that they are somehow trying to stir up matters. Rather, I think what Chen Deming said reflects Beijing’s real desire to further nurture the ties that are already growing increasingly close between a large swath of industry and commerce in the two countries. From this perspective, TPP, and particularly huge political and bureaucratic investment being required for its promotion by the Noda government, is unhelpful and unwelcome.
I have written before that I think Japan’s future is one of increasing economic, social, and even political integration within a China-dominated Asia. In determining how to approach the ASEAN+3 FTA trade talks, on the one hand, and TPP, on the other, Japan will be both balancing its near term interests and plotting its future course.
　

Labor standing firm on Pacific trade deal,The Sydney Morning Post,12.3.5（オーストラリア政府、ISDS条項反対の態度を堅持）

The federal government is standing firm against Australian and US business demands that it allow controversial dispute settlement clauses into an ambitious new Pacific free trade deal.

Australia is one of nine nations seeking to reach final agreement on a deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by the end of 2012.

The 11th round of negotiations - which also includes the US, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Peru, Chile and Brunei - are now underway in Melbourne.

But talks have entered troubled waters over what are known as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses.

These typically give businesses from one country power to take international legal action against the government of another, over agreement breaches.

The clauses are included in many multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements.

But the federal government last year issued a new trade policy, in which it ruled out supporting such clauses, arguing they ran the risk of giving foreign business greater legal rights than domestic businesses.

The government believes such clauses could also constrain its ability to make laws on social, environmental and economic matters.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson on Monday said the government would not change its position.

"We do not and will not support investor-state dispute settlement provisions," Dr Emerson told reporters on Monday.

"This is government policy.

"It's the result of a cabinet decision in April last year, reaffirmed at the (ALP) national conference."

The heads of 31 US business groups last week urged President Barack Obama to take Australia to task over the issue.

"Australia's rejection of investor-state dispute settlement is not only thwarting the ability of the TPP negotiations to produce strong enforcement outcomes, it is also having a corrosive effect on the level of ambition and other key aspects of the TPP negotiations," the business leaders said in an open letter to Mr Obama.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) on Monday also expressed concerned about the government's position.

"We think the Australian government's approach of non-inclusion is poor policy and leaves Australian firms exposed when they are doing business overseas," ACCI Director of Trade and International Affairs Bryan Clark said.

"We urge the government to reconsider its position on ISDS and negotiate all aspects of the TPP in good faith and in support of Australian business interests."

There are hopes the TPP will serve as a building block for the ultimate goal of a free-trade deal covering all 21 APEC countries

How TPP affects NZ artists,Scoop,12.2.29（TPPはニュージーランドその他の国のアーチストにどんな影響を与えるか。著作権問題）

conomists Call for TPP Deal to Allow Capital Controls,Scoop,12.2.29

More than 100 Economists Call for Trans-Pacific Trade Deal to Allow Capital Controls to Prevent Crises

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The economist statement reflects growing consensus that capital controls are legitimate policy tools. It notes, however, that nearly all U.S. trade agreements “strictly limit the ability of trading partners to deploy capital controls – with no safeguards for times of crisis.”

They recommend that the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement “permit governments to deploy capital controls without being subject to investor lawsuits, as part of a broader menu of policy options to prevent and mitigate financial crises.”

Civil society groups slam corporate influence on TPP talks,Scoop,12.2.28（国際市民グループ、TPP交渉に対する大企業の影響力行使に抗議）

Press Release: Joint Media Statement

International civil society groups slam corporate influence on Trans-Pacific free trade talks in Melbourne

The 11th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement negotiations between Australia , the US , New Zealand , Malaysia and four other countries starts in Melbourne on March 1. Civil society groups from those countries are in Melbourne to contest corporate influence and debate the issues.

"US global corporations are driving US negotiators’ proposals," Dr Patricia Ranald, Convenor of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) said today. "Pharmaceutical companies want more rights to charge higher prices for medicines and tobacco companies want the right to sue governments for damages if they regulate tobacco advertising. Australian government policy should mean that it refuses these demands, supports labour rights and environmental protections and releases the text of the agreement for public debate before it is signed."

Chee Yoke Ling, Director of Programmes, and Third World Network, explained: "In Malaysia , the TPPA will have a big impact, since we do not already have an FTA with the USA . Leaked proposals from the USA on intellectual property show that it continues to seek strong protections for its pharmaceutical corporations, which will raise medicines prices for millions of ordinary people. And the USA ’s push for investor rights for its companies threatens needed regulations for all the countries involved."

Professor Jane Kelsey, University of Auckland added: "We are seeing a real backlash in New Zealand against the National government's revival of the old privatisation and deregulation agenda, and mounting foreign control of the country's natural resources and key assets. That is starting to infect the TPPA, which is why Trade Minister Groser wants to push the deal through before people understand how it will lock us into that model forever."

Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, a prominent U.S. consumer organization, said: "Despite repeated polls showing that a majority of Americans oppose more of the same corporate power grabs disguised as "trade" agreements, negotiators are pushing for a TPP that would only benefit the 1 percent. Whatever one thinks about "free trade" that is not the real agenda of US negotiators. There are 600-plus official corporate Trade Advisors who want to use the TPP to get new investor rights to control other countries' natural resources, attack health and environmental policy and boost their profits with rules that force drug price increases and financial deregulation."

The leaked US proposals and US health and consumer groups’ commentary are at
http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/blog/2011/10/22/leaked-trans-pacific-fta-texts-reveal-u-s-undermining-access-to-medicine/
Australian health groups’ commentary on the leaked documents is at
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/public-health-at-risk-in-trade-talks-20110914-1k94z.html#ixzz1XyOtY2CC.

Japanese TPP Negotiations Depends On US Go-Ahead,Tax News,12.2.27Z(日本のTPP交渉参加は米国の出方にかかっている）

While the Japanese government has now concluded a first round of talks with each of the nine countries that are presently in negotiations for an extension to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), it is becoming apparent that it will be up to the United States to make the final decision whether to allow Japan to join those negotiations.

Since the November 2011 announcement by the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, expressing Japan’s intention to begin consultations with TPP countries toward joining the TPP negotiations, six countries - Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam - have all said they would support Japan's participation in the negotiations.

However, Japan needs to receive the support of all nine countries, and recent talks with two other countries - Australia and New Zealand – have been inconclusive. Japan's Parliamentary Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi has disclosed that both countries welcomed Japan's interest in joining TPP negotiations but have stopped short of declaring their support.

For both countries, the crucial question is whether the Japanese government will be able to deliver a professed willingness to place all goods and services on the negotiating table for trade liberalization, despite substantial opposition in Japan from its agricultural sector, as there could be no tariff exemptions allowed for sensitive products, such as beef, rice and dairy products.

Australia has expressed such doubts due to the fact that, in all of its bilateral talks with Japan over the past five years, it has found a total unwillingness from the Japanese side for tariffs to be reduced on agricultural products in their proposed free trade agreement (FTA).

Both Australia and New Zealand will therefore reserve their judgment on Japan’s TPP application until they can be assured of Japan’s attitude to farm products and after the US has made its decision.

However, the latter is under some doubt as, following two days of technical level meetings which finished on February 22, the US is still considering whether it can support Japan’s application. The meetings were a follow-up to the senior-level consultation held with Japan on February 7.

Following those meetings, the Office of the US Trade Representative said that the inter-governmental consultative process would be continued, with further meetings to be arranged at a later date. It was emphasized that the meetings had allowed the US to continue an assessment as to whether Japan was ready to meet TPP market-opening standards.

In fact, a recent US consultation process raised considerable domestic opposition to negotiation with Japan, particularly from the automotive sectors, which currently represents 70% of the total US bilateral trade deficit with Japan. In the opinion of the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), which represents the common interests of the Chrysler Group, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Company, Japan has “the most closed auto market to imports in the developed world”.

“Japan’s trade barriers in the auto sector cannot be addressed easily or quickly, and will needlessly slow down the negotiations,” the AAPC added. “To date, Japan has not indicated a willingness to change its decades-long practice of maintaining a closed automotive market.” It believes that the problems with the Japanese auto market "cannot be negotiated away in an FTA. These obstacles are deeply rooted in an economy structured exclusively for export, and in a regulatory framework that significantly limits imports.”

In addition, late last year, the leading US politicians dealing with trade matters expressed their own doubts, concluding that, while "Japan is a long-time US ally and friend in Asia,” the “paramount considerations in evaluating a request relating to a trade agreement must be whether Japan is willing and able to meet the high standard commitments inherent in US FTAs and whether inclusion would truly open this historically-closed market to the benefit of our companies, workers and farmers”.

NewHarper to announce free-trade talks with Japan,Canada.com.12.2.23（カナダ首相、日本とのFTA交渉表明へ）

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce free-trade negotiations with Japan when he heads to Asia for a summit in March — talks that could be the ticket into a more important economic club.

Harper is expected to make a stop in Tokyo to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda while in Asia for the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, the National Post reported Thursday.

Both Canada and Japan are trying to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a trade group of nine Asia-Pacific countries, and this bilateral deal could put the countries into a position to support the other's entry into the TPP with neither having to compromise on supply management or rice.

The free-trade deal could mean more cars being imported into Canada from Asia by removing the current 6.1 per cent duty on vehicles imported from outside North America.

A move such as this, however, is likely to face resistance from auto unions, which say increased trade could result in job losses.

Harper and Noda are also expected to announce easing the ban on Canadian beef to allow cattle up to the age of 30 months into Japan. This would change Japan's ban on Canadian beef older than 21 months imposed due to fears of mad cow disease.

Japan is Canada's fourth-largest trading partner, with exports totalling almost $9.2 billion in 2010 — an increase of more than 10 per cent over 2009. Total merchandise trade in 2010 reached $22.6 billion.

Furthermore, Japan is Canada's largest foreign direct investment partner in Asia.

The federal government announced last year a joint study to examine a potential free-trade initiative with Japan.

Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, who was in Japan in November on a trade mission, said he's not familiar with all the details of free-trade negotiations with Japan but believes the two countries have a strong political and economic relationship.

"Clearly, Japan remains a very large and important economy, and one where we have friendly relations. We have mutual interest in trade," Oliver said.

However, launching free-trade talks doesn't mean a deal will be completed anytime soon.

The federal government has no free-trade deals with Asian countries and observers argue Canada has developed a reputation for starting talks but being unable to complete them.

Canada, for example, has been negotiating with Singapore for a decade and Korea for seven years.

Regardless, negotiations with Japan could pave the way for the two countries to be accepted into the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which many analysts believe could eventually trump the North American Free Trade Agreement in economic importance.

The TPP is currently a nine-member Asia-Pacific regional trade agreement being negotiated among the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

"Entry of Canada, Japan, and/or Mexico (into the TPP) would increase the economic significance of the agreement," says a new analysis from the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

"Current TPP countries represent about five per cent of all U.S. trade. Canada, Japan, and Mexico would increase the TPP's share of U.S.-world trade from five per cent to 40 per cent."

Dairy industry welcomes public committment to open trade - Tasmanian Country Hour - ABC Rural Australian Broadcasting Corporation) ,ABC rural news,12.2.16（オーストラリア、酪農・乳業）

Canada set to discuss all issues in Pacific talks,Reuters via Yahoo!News,12.2.15（カナダ）
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A tariff structure that supports domestic farmers should not be a barrier to Canada's entry to a pan-Pacific trade pact, although all issues are up for negotiation, Canada's trade minister said on Wednesday.
Ed Fast, interviewed in Singapore at the end of a tour of Southeast Asia, said most of the nine countries working toward the conclusion of a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal supported Canada's entry into the negotiations.
He declined to say which countries did not back the plans. News reports have suggested Australia and New Zealand are unhappy about Canada's supply management support program for poultry and egg producers, a network of marketing boards and quotas intended to keep markets stable and ensure farm incomes.
Some reports suggest U.S. support is not guaranteed.
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Canada risks being left empty-handed in Asia,Globe and Mail,12.2.15
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Except the U.S. isn’t sure what’s to be gained by Canadian entry, even though the Harper government is counting on the U.S. to bulldoze our entry. New Zealand doesn’t want Canada if we insist as a pre-condition that protection for supply management remains untouchable. Australia, playing a smart game, keeps saying publicly it would like Canada present but would shed no tears if it didn’t happen.
Not for the first time, and likely not for the last, Canada’s national interests are being sacrificed to protect supply management.
　

Trans Pacific trade deal at what price?,Globe and Mail,12.2.5（カナダ）
On Tuesday, as Stephen Harper arrives in China, a delegation from Japan begins talks in Washington that could affect Canada’s trading future far more than anything that gets signed in Beijing.
The Japanese badly want to join the Trans Pacific Partnership, an ambitious set of trade negotiations between the United States and eight other Pacific nations that have gone far farther, and faster, than most observers expected. Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson said last week that he expects to see “something substantial – not a finalized agreement, but substantial – by around July.”
More related to this story
For Harper, all trade roads now lead to China
The integrated approach to engaging Beijing
Signs augur well for Canadian entry in TPP: Trade Minister
That doesn’t leave much time for the Japanese to get in, or for Canada, either. This country is also eager to join the TPP.
But membership has its costs, and some may not be aware how high those costs could be.
All nine member countries within the TPP talks — the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Brunei — must agree before any country can join the talks at this late stage. The Japanese are in Washington to secure the Obama administration’s support, but the Americans are demanding a very high price.
They want Tokyo to scrap regulations that keep American cars out of the Japanese market. They want the Japanese to eliminate their prohibitive tariffs on rice and other agricultural imports. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler has declared that her country will tolerate no exceptions if Japan wants America’s support for entry into the TPP. The Japanese, desperate to revive their flagging manufacturing sector, appear willing to agree.
If that’s what the Americans want from the Japanese, it’s easy to project what they will want from Canada: an end to the supply-management system that protects dairy and poultry products; an end to restrictions on foreign investment in banks, telecommunications firms, cultural industries and airlines. The talks also aim to harmonize intellectual-property laws.
One senior official, speaking on background, suggested that Canada’s signature on a TPP treaty would amount to a whole new free trade agreement between Canada and the U.S., stripping away all of the protections the Mulroney government secured in the original talks, with all the other members of the TPP having access as well.
And if that weren’t enough, Nkenge Harmon of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, pointed out in an e-mail exchange that the administration would “want to ensure we have Congressional support … before finalizing a decision about Canada's entry.”
What are the chances that the Harper government would agree, even in principle, to scrap supply management, eliminate restrictions on foreign investment – when the Prime Minister himself said recently that he doesn’t want to see foreign ownership of such sensitive companies as Research in Motion – and surrender sovereignty over copyright law, all for the sake simply joining the TPP talks? One is tempted to reply: zero.
Yet officials remain optimistic. International Trade Minister Ed Fast is jetting off to Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore this month, followed by Vietnam in March, to secure the consent of those TPP members. As for the U.S., the Canadians are confident that it would be geopolitically unthinkable for the U.S. to support Japan’s admission to the TPP while opposing Canada’s.
And on the question of concessions, officials say the government is prepared to put everything on the table, but only after Canada actually gets admitted to the TPP table. Whatever happens, if the TPP turns out to be as ambitious as everyone involved says it is, joining it would end decades of protection in sectors of the economy that no Canadian government has ever dared tamper with. It will be a brave prime minister who signs his name to such a deal

Taiwan's Beef Over US Meat,Asia Sentinel,12.2.6（台湾、牛肉、狂牛病、アメリカ牛肉に残留するラクトパミン＝動物用医薬品の問題）

Payback time for Ma – getting rice bowls ready for Obama’s beef
Taipei’s relations with Washington have been complicated for years over the supposed dangers of US meat imports. First, it was bovine spongiform encephalopathy—mad cow disease—then it was the lean meat-enhancer ractopamine, which is banned in many countries but not the US, that led to import restrictions.
Although US beef has never been a major part of bilateral trade – in 2009 it was just US$114 million or around 0.5 percent of annual US exports to the island -- the Americans pressured Taipei with suspension of bilateral talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), and also made it clear that Taiwanese plans to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral free trade agreement (FTA) currently promoted by the Obama Administration, are not going anywhere until the beef issue is settled.
Today, however, Washington's push for a full opening for US beef is gaining momentum. That is because US President Barrack Obama helped his Taiwanese counterpart Ma Ying-jeou get re-elected in mid-January. Since Obama needs the support of the American meat industry for his own re-election bid, no time has been wasted in reminding Ma that it's payback time.
It is widely believed that the Obama Administration dug deep into its bag of tricks to ensure Ma’s victory. Fearing that a win by the anti-unification Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would complicate Sino-US relations, Washington allegedly endorsed Ma via a sudden spike in visits by high-ranking US officials to Taipei and the island's timely listing as a candidate for the US's visa-waiver program, among other measures.
But there is no such thing as a free lunch. While Ma and his Kuomintang confederates were still celebrating the victory, Raymond Burghardt, the US-based chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto US embassy, flew into Taipei for private talks with Ma.
Once again, beef was at the top of the agenda. A continuation of the pre-election flattery did not happen.
“Beef is one step towards Taiwan having a broader and more liberal overall trade posture. [...]Taiwan needs to have better relations with the Asia-Pacific region, beyond China,” Burghardt told the press.
With Ma heavily under fire domestically for having made the island overly reliant on China, the Taiwanese president didn’t appreciate Washington's envoy’s remarks.
After mad cow disease was detected in the US, Taiwan, joining a global trend, banned US beef imports in December 2003. Rules were relaxed in 2006 to allow imports of boneless beef, and in 2009 an opening to American beef on the bone, organs and minced beef followed.
However, Ma, well aware that protests over the same issue in South Korea had almost brought down the government of President Lee Myung Bak, eventually overturned the decision to allow imports.
Last year, the Taiwanese government pulled US meat with the growth drug ractopamine. The drug, which is fed to pigs and other animals almost until slaughter in order to make them lean and boost their growth, is banned in the EU and China but is considered safe by the US, Canada and Australia, among other countries.
What turned off the Americans in particular were obvious demonstrations of double standards. US officials complained that the Ma administration's ordering of the high-profile removal of US beef from supermarkets in early 2011 created a misperception of an immediate risk to public health, and that when locally produced pork tested positive for ractopamine, authorities held no press conferences, nor were the tests' findings mentioned on government Web sites. Nor were reporters led by zealous officials through the local pig farms at the center of the scandal.
Other incidents proved that when dealing with self-made food scandals, the Taiwanese government tends to be a lot more forgiving. In late-May last year, it was discovered that toxic plasticizers had been added to food products on a massive scale for decades, potentially affecting the health of millions. In the aftermath, no officials of noteworthy rank were forced to shoulder responsibility, and also when the very ractopamine that led to the high-profile import stop for US beef was found in products for lunchboxes prepared for 200,000 elementary schoolchildren in New Taipei City, the case was forgotten very soon after.
Although Kuomintang officials have obviously been wracking their brains to seek a solution, the atmosphere is hardly optimistic.
“The issue hasn't got any easier to resolve because Ma has been reelected. It locks the heads of those responsible for Taiwan's external relations and strategic vision with a parochially-minded opposition,” said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council.
“No doubt President Ma is keen to have the issue resolved but the Council of Agriculture, the farmers and his own party are all against speedy resolution; indeed, against any resolution at all.”
Positioned in the middle of the struggle between government agencies and other players is the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The Ministry is anxious to reopen talks on the trade and investment agreement as it crucially important to Taiwan's exporters. Rival South Korea has signed free trade agreements with the EU and US, but the Department of Health as well as the Council of Agriculture are dragging their feet. The COA previously said it cannot do anything before the Codex Alimentarius Commission – a body established by the United Nations and World Health Organization for the resolution of disputes concerning food safety– decided on whether an internationally accepted set of Maximum Residue Level standards for ractopamine will be set. If that is the case, the COA is to give the nod because World Trade Organization rules would force Taiwan as a member to do so. As it latest move, the COA proposed allowing the drug in imported beef but not in imported pork or allowing ractopamine in imports, while continuing to prohibit local farmers from using it.
Helena Bottemiller, Washington correspondent for Food Safety News, explained why this is unlikely.
“July is when Codex meets again. It appears the EU and China will still oppose it, and there are other countries that voted with them," she said. "An MRL could be adopted over China and the EU's objections, but because the EU has 27 votes, it's an important voting bloc.”
Ractopamine is much more dangerous than widely claimed, according to a recent report by Bottemiller which was commissioned by the Food and Environment Reporting Network. The report suggests it has sickened or killed more animals than any other livestock drug on the US market.. Safety studies at the heart of the current trade dispute were conducted by the drug-maker Elanco itself, she said, and apart from mice, rats, monkeys and dogs, only six healthy young men were tested.
“One was removed because his heart began racing and pounding abnormally”, Bottemiller said.
John F Copper, a professor of international studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, predicted the recent US push would harm Ma anyway as Taiwan's opposition can easily use studies cited by Bottemiller to gain public support.
“The issue can either be used to scare people, or as an excuse to stop the importation of American beef so as to help local beef producers, or both. In Taiwan's case it is the former.” Copper said. “Attacks over the matter will make it appear as if the government does not care about public health.”
Since unemployment is Washington's biggest voter concern, the Obama administration wants to make people believe it is doing everything possible to create jobs, Copper said. Agriculture is a big lobby in the US and rural Americans have a bigger vote because redistricting – the drawing of US electoral district boundaries in response to population changes – is notoriously behind in taking into consideration people moving to the cities, he added.
“Although Ma would have been elected without the US, it is clear that Obama helped Ma win re-election. The Obama administration feels that there needs to be a quid pro quo for the help, and that means Taiwan helping Obama get re-elected.”
Needless to say, the DPP isn't amused about what it claims was undue US interference in Taiwan's democratic elections, let alone Obama and Ma helping one another at DPP's expense. In what obviously has been a grudging snub against the Obama Administration, Ma's main challenger in the presidential race, the DPP's Tsai Ing-wen, was initially scheduled to meet AIT Chairman Burghardt on his visit to Taipei but later cancelled the appointment without real explanation.
Auguring particularly badly for Obama's initiative to present American voters a breakthrough on US beef exports to Taiwan in a timely manner, the DPP seemingly cannot wait to settle the score.
“I heard from a good source that the DPP will try to block legislature from approving US beef imports to get even with the US for helping Ma,” Copper said.

Cattlemen adopt policy to advance U.S. beef trade,South East Farm Press,12.2.6（全米肉牛生産者・牛肉協会=NCBA）

----------
Donald said NCBA members keyed in on international trade, specifically the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), during the convention.

He said a resolution was passed that codified NCBA support of a TPP that removes tariff and non-tariff trade barriers for U.S. beef to participating countries, which include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Donald said NCBA insists all participating countries, as well as any countries that join the TPP in the future, must fully abide by guidelines set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
----------

CANADIAN AND U.S. INSURANCE INDUSTRIES TO JOIN FORCES TO PROMOTE IMPROVED GLOBAL TRADE,Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc.,12.2.6（カナダ生命保険/健康保険協会）

Positive thinkers line up for next round of negotiations.

A group of US-based public interest and intellectual property experts has revealed it will seek a radical reframing of the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) at negotiations in Melbourne next month.

The group, convened by American University Washington College of Law’s Sean Flynn is proposing a more positive agenda based on new start points for future discussions.

Its approach differs from other TPP critics who are seeking to stop - rather than positively influence - the negotiations.

Flynn told iTnews he is hopeful that a constructive approach to the TPP may break some of the impasse that has confronted and tainted broad publlc acceptance of other initiatives, such as the Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement (ACTA), Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), while advancing public interest concerns.

Broadly, the group calls for “balance and flexibility within national intellectual property systems” to promote social development and economic innovation.

It proposes the following approaches to advance its objectives:

Intellectual property policy making should be conducted through mechanisms of transparency and openness that encourage broad public participation
Promote systems for limiting ISP liability that do not rely on censorship of online material without a court order
Require open ended, flexible exceptions that can adapt to technology and use changes
Require exceptions to copyright for non-commercial user generated content and for temporary reproductions for IT purposes e.g. cache and RAM copies.
Require a commercial threshold for the imposition of statutory damages
Require all damages to be proportional to actual harm cause to right owner
Require demonstration of sufficiency of evidence before any disclosure of internet user information
Ban the extraterritorial application of domestic IP standards to interrupt flows of goods or information (e.g. in-transit seizures, DNS blocking)
Affirmatively protect the ability of countries to authorise parallel imports

The group's first opportunity to influence the latest round of TPP discussions will be at a forum for industry and community representatives in Melbourne on March 4.

The Melbourne round of negotiations also includes an informal reception for stakeholders and negotiators on March 6 and a briefing from chief negotiators on March 7. Participant registration closes on February 17.

While outline TPP statements were revealed last November, the lack of official TPP drafts continues to fuel concern amongst activists that the agreement will lead to tough new anti-piracy laws, and muddy the water on cloud computing.

Leaders have previously agreed to consider how emerging technologies - such as the cloud - might help or hinder trade opportunities between member countries.

Thailand on the fence amid TPP talks,Bangkok Post,12.2.3(タイ）

Thailand should keep up on the progress of the new Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in order not to miss out on the new free-trade bandwagon.

Proposed by the US, the TPP now has nine members: Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, the US, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Japan, Canada and Mexico have announced their intention to join.

The TPP framework agreement, to be signed this year and including comprehensive market access, elimination of tariffs and other barriers on goods, services and investment, will become a full regional FTA to help raise living standards, improve welfare and promote sustainable growth, Srirat Rastapana, director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, told a seminar yesterday.

The catch, she said, is it comes with strict requirements on intellectual property rights, labour and the environment.

While Thailand has not joined the pact, Mrs Srirat said the country had to pay attention to this development. Some Asean members have already joined the TPP, and Thailand may lose out if investors are drawn to other countries offering more advantages through the TPP.

The US government plans to expand the TPP members to cover the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping. That would make it the biggest FTA in the world, commanding 40% of the global trade.

Prapat Thepchatree, director of Thammasat University's Research and Consultancy Institute, said the TPP was initiated because the US was left out from free trade pacts in Asia. The rise of China might also be a threat to the US.

He said if Thailand joins, it will be seen as supporting Washington, which may jeopardise FTAs in Asia and reduce the role of Asean in the region.

"The US will gain the most. Thailand's participation will also hurt our relationship with China, so Thailand should wait, as there is not yet a clear analysis of the pros and cons for us," he said.

Piyanuch Malakul Na Ayuthya, deputy secretary-general of Federation of Thai Industries, said the trend is moving towards more FTAs, with the TPP acting as the catalyst.

If Thailand joins the pact, trade in goods and services, as well as investment is likely to increase but some businesses may be forced to close or consolidate. But they will gain access to better networking of upstream, middle-stream and downstream industries which may result in lower cost. Rules and regulations will also be made more transparent and fairer.

An initial survey among the private sector shows those industries that would gain are textiles, garments, sugar, air-conditioners and steel, while those in machinery, electronics and electrical appliances, and the entire farm sector, particularly soybean and poultry, will be hurt the most.

Govt urged to be cautious on joining TPP talks,The Nation,12.2.3（タイ）
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Govt-urged-to-be-cautious-on-joining-TPP-talks-30175059.html
Thailand should not rush to join the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as it would bring many challenges along with its benefits, and its playing field would not be level, private enterprises and academics said.
At a seminar yesterday on "TPP: Hope or Political Games" organised by the Trade Negotiations Department of the Commerce Ministry, panellists shared similar views that the pact would create huge benefits for Thailand. However, there are also many issues of concern, mainly on different standards of protection of intellectual property, the environment and labour, and high competitiveness for some products important to Thailand.
Moreover, they warned that Asean might lose some attractiveness and impetus for pushing closer cooperation within the region, since many Asean members would focus more on the TPP, with its broader economic integration. Four Asean members - Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam - are already in negotiations with the US on joining the pact.
Prapat Thepchatri, director of Asean studies at Thammasat University, said Thailand should wait until other countries in Asia have decided to join the TPP before making its own move. Moreover, the country should carefully study what impact joining in the TPP negotiations would have on its relations with China.
Prapat pointed out that there would certainly be economic benefits from joining this multilateral pact and becoming a strategic partner of the United States. However, many sectors such as agriculture and some manufacturing could face negative impacts, and there could also be political ramifications from rushing into joining the TPP.
Piyanuch Malakul na Ayuthya, deputy secretary-general of the Federation of Thai Industries, said that if the Kingdom fails to join the TPP, it could fall behind Vietnam, which trades very similar goods. However, many Thai manufacturers are not ready to join the pact, as they need time to adjust and increase their competitiveness.
Sectors that want to join the TPP include textiles and garments, sugar, air-conditioning, electrical and electronics, foods, jewellery and rubber. Some of those enterprises are worried that they will lose tariff privileges under the US Generalised System of Preferences soon.
However, other sectors such as machinery, metals and some agricultural segments are highly concerned about the strong technological superiority of US industries, and therefore want no part of the TPP.
Still other sectors, including leather and leather goods, plastics, and automobiles and auto parts, are hesitant on the issue.
Piyanuch added that while considering whether to join the pact, the government should urgently help small and medium-sized enterprises improve their competitiveness before liberalising the market for other TPP members.
Srirat Rastapana, director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, said the government would listen carefully to the views of private enterprises on whether they would like to join the agreement. It is conducting a feasibility study on the anticipated gains and losses from joining the TPP.

IP Protection Standards In TPP Represent The Downside Of The Trans-Pacific Partnership,Forbes,1.25
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/25/ip-protection-standards-in-tpp-represent-the-dark-side-of-the-trans-pacific-partnership/?feed=rss_home

US Copyright Lobby Wants Canada Out of TPP Until New Laws Passed, Warns of No Cultural Exceptions,Michael Geist,12.1.16（カナダ、著作権）

Federal Register submission to USTR regarding Japan joining TPP negotiations.,American Automotive Polcy Council,12.1.13（アメリカ自動車業界）

ACLI Comments On Japan's Interest In Joining Trans-Pacific Partnership,ACLI News Release.12.1.13
アメリ生命保険協会が日本のTPP参加についての要求を米政府に提出。
Washington, D.C. (January 13, 2012) -- The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) submitted a statement today at the request of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) regarding Japan’s expression of interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (TPP). While supportive of Japan’s interest in TPP, the submission notes longstanding issues with regard to Japan Post Insurance (JPI) and insurance cooperatives (kyosai) for which TPP offers resolution opportunities.
JPI, through its holding company Japan Post Holdings, is wholly-owned by the Government of Japan. Under the Postal Privatization Law it was in the process of moving toward partial privatization in 2009 when new legislation was enacted to freeze the sale of government shares in the world’s largest life insurer. It is unclear at present whether that process will resume.
ACLI recommends that the U.S. government take no position on whether JPI should or should not be privatized and instead use the TPP process to ensure that JPI—whether publicly or privately owned—does not continue to enjoy government-bestowed privileges which distort competition.
For the TPP negotiations, ACLI states that the primary U.S. objective should be the establishment of a level competitive playing field in Japan’s insurance market, the world’s second largest. To ensure this is achieved, ACLI respectfully requests the U.S. government to seek an agreement with the Government of Japan that would, among other things, “provide for no new or modified product offerings by JPI until equivalent conditions of competition have been established,” an objective shared by the Japanese private sector and by Japan’s other major trading partners.
In its submission, ACLI notes the strides that Japan has made, particularly in establishing an independent and professional regulatory body —the Financial Services Agency (FSA). The submission, however, flags two problematic situations in connection with JPI and kyosai that remain as serious challenges on which U.S. and domestic Japanese insurers are allied:
JPI enjoys a number of statutory, regulatory and other governmental privileges which distort and undermine competition with the private sector, including Japanese providers.
Kyosai enjoy regulatory advantages over U.S. and other domestic Japanese insurance suppliers. Many of these kyosai are not regulated by the FSA.
The statement adds, the “TPP process offers the U.S. a unique opportunity to address both of these situations in a comprehensive manner,” “to ensure that competition is fair” and that “consumers are protected and provided a choice of products that best meet their needs.”

US Confirms TPP Not Aimed Against China,tax-news,12.1.9

At the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington to launch a speaker series entitled the "Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Recovery through Growth in Asia and the Next Generation of Regional Trade Agreements", the Deputy National Security Adviser Michael Froman explored issues of trade, as well as the overall role and influence of the United States, in the Asia-Pacific region.
Firstly, he said that the proposed extension to the TPP, which the countries negotiating it - Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam - have said will cover "core" issues traditionally included in trade agreements, such as the elimination of tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, as well as rules on intellectual property, labour and the environment, is not directly aimed against the interests of China.
However, the US sees the TPP as central to its renewal interest in the Asia-Pacific region, and Froman pointed out that, in areas where the US has been critical of China recently, for example in the role of state-owned enterprises, the TPP is to establish rigorous trade rules to protect US manufacturing and jobs.
He also confirmed that the target of the US is to have the final text of the TPP agreement ready by the end of this year, although he foresaw that negotiations could continue into 2013. He disclosed that the US has no plans to enter into bilateral trade talks with single Asia-Pacific countries, while the TPP negotiations continue.
Froman said he did not think that the requests by Japan, Canada and Mexico to join those negotiations would delay the TPP agreement, as consultations with the three countries on whether they were willing and able to cover all the issues to be included in the new TPP could run concurrently with the main talks. He also expressed the US government’s view that the more countries in the Asia-Pacific that applied to join the TPP, the better it would be.

Deep divide over Trans-Pacific Partnership,The New Straits Times（マレーシア）,12.1.8
By Mutsuko Murukami
EARLY in December, a good number of Japanese diplomats, agriculture policy makers and trade officials flew into Kuala Lumpur.
Trade experts of nine governments held an initial round of negotiations for building the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the regional free trade agreement now in focus.
The Japanese officials, however, remained outside the closed doors of the talks and ran around collecting information about the other countries' discussion inside the rooms. The scene epitomises Japan's lukewarm stance -- and political pains -- over the TPP.
The TPP aims to form an expansive free trade zone among partner countries in the Asia-Pacific region, based on the Apec framework. Nine countries -- Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States -- formally joined the negotiations.
They moved on to reach outlines of the agreement at the Apec summit held in Hawaii in mid-November. Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said there that Japan would "start talks with other countries toward participating in TPP", indicating Japan's interest but carefully avoiding a formal pledge of joining the partnership.
The world welcomed Noda's comments in Hawaii as Japan's "Go" sign: if Japan joins the group, the TPP represents the regional economy accounting for 35 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). If Mexico and Canada, who both show interest, also join, it will be 40 per cent.
But Noda's positive remark caused another round of furore back in Japan, where the TPP debates are causing a deep divide.
According to a recent poll of major daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, 51 per cent support Noda's decision of joining the TPP, while 35 per cent disapproved. (The rest were either undecided or gave no answer.)
Exporters of industrialised products -- cars, electric appliances and high-tech machinery -- are calling for the regional free trade agreement even louder than before. The sharp yen appreciation reduced the price competitiveness of their products dramatically last year in the global market.
The March quake and tsunami damaged the supply chain for their production, too, leading to Japan's exports declining between April and September 2011. The current account surplus of Japan dropped 47 per cent during the period.
But many Japanese anticipate they will have more to lose than to gain by joining the free trade block, or foresee a devastating impact of opening the home market unconditionally to foreign products or services.
This time, it is not only a matter of cheaper imports hurting local businesses or increasing unemployment.
The fiercest opposition comes from traditional farmers, most of them with small patches of farms -- protected for decades by government subsidies and high tariffs on imports, and lately by the income support policy.
Japanese farm products, therefore, have been made least price-competitive by global standards.
For example, Japanese rice is typically sold at 500 yen (RM20.42) per kg, while the same kind of short grain rice is available in the United States for 180 yen.
Japan imposes a tariff of 778 per cent on imported rice, 252 per cent on imported wheat and 325 per cent on imported sugar.
If cheaper farm products from TPP partner nations fill the Japanese market, "Japan's agriculture will collapse", warns the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, the national umbrella of Japanese farmers.
Thousands of farmers were visible out on Tokyo streets in November in protest, while pro-TPP commentators call for structural reforms of Japan's uncompetitive farming.
Another controversial segment is medical service. In Japan, the government controls medicine prices within a relatively reasonable range.
People can access medical care covered by national health insurance.
The United States is reportedly interested in marketing American pricey drugs, providing non-insurance-covered expensive medical care and letting American businesses make inroads into the "market".
Japanese doctors warn that such deregulation would destroy Japan's egalitarian public medical system and promote disparity in availability of top medical service between the rich and the poor.
It is important for Japan to appeal that it is open to trade partners and has no other choice but joining the regional free trade partnership.
But, one government official says, Japan and the US will after all account for more than 90 per cent of the total GDP of all the TPP partners.
For Japan, therefore, TPP will be almost a bilateral free trade agreement primarily with the US.
Japan has been vulnerable to diplomatic pressure of its major ally.
And that is the bottom line of the TPP controversies, he indicates.
It remains quite a challenge for the Noda administration to move ahead and join the partnership, while keeping everyone reasonably happy at home
Read more: Deep divide over Trans-Pacific Partnership - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/deep-divide-over-trans-pacific-partnership-1.29627#ixzz1j8GmhXHN

2011年

NZ has new TPP lead negotiator,New Zealand's National Business Review,11.12.19

Insight: Ten years on, American business rethinks China dreams,Reuters,11.12.9

Pacific trade deal could help save species: U.S.,Reuters,11.12.5

Trade in illegally poached and harvested wildlife and wild plants could be curbed, possibly saving endangered species such as the New Zealand Kakapo parrot, by a proposed Trans-Pacific trade deal, a top U.S. trade official said on Monday.
"Whether it involves forest products manufactured from illegally harvested tropical timber, or body parts from threatened tiger species, or fins brutally torn from sharks at sea, more can be done to fight illegal trafficking in wildlife and wild plant products," Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said in a speech.

Japan’s Canadian auto units want Ottawa to strike free-trade deal,Globe and Mail,11.12.7(日本、カナダ）

US farmers back Japan bid to join Trans-Pacific pact,Reuters,11.12.5

Peru Sees Approval of Japan, Mexico Accords This Month,Bloomberg,11.11.4（ペルー）

Kirk Reviews US Trade Policy,Tax News,11.12.2（アメリカ）

It hurts dancing to supply management’s tune,Globe and Mail,11.12.2（カナダ）

TPP: APEC's anti-China son?,The Japan Times,11.11.30(オーストラリア）

By GREGORY CLARK

----------

APEC never got round to creating that trade bloc; for the most part, it has remained as a windy talk-fest operation, providing jobs for an army of bureaucrats and academics to talk about the benefits of free trade. As such, it eventually has had to admit China. But now we have the TPP as a free-trade bloc successor, with Australia once again playing a leading role, and with the anti-China bias even more obvious than before; the aim is to rival Beijing's offer of an FTA with the ASEAN nations.

As such it has been strongly embraced by a U.S. keen to link up with Tokyo to create the dominant Asian economic bloc. True, Tokyo still has to decide whether it can open its markets enough to be a member. But it does seem happy with the anti-Beijing slant.

Australia's role is especially curious. Its economy relies heavily on China. Yet Canberra has yet to see an anti-China trade and military alliance in Asia that it did not like. This constant reluctance to accept China as an important Asian nation is getting ridiculous.----------

Gregory Clark , a former Australian diplomat and government official, is a longtime resident of Japan. A Japanese translation of this article will appear on www.gregoryclark.net

Canada has a place in trans-Pacific free trade zone, Harper maintains,Globe and Mail,11.11.25（カナダ）

Supply management not in 'dress code' for TPP club: N.Z.,AgCanada,11.11.24(カナダ）

New Zealand disputes Harper's stand on tariff walls,Globe and Mail,11.11.24（ニュージーランド）

　→ニュージー貿易相　TPP交渉に参加したいなら”最もセンシティブな”分野の自由化も確約せよ

Beware the limits of latest free trade deal,smh,11.11.16

Russell Marks(lecturer in Australian politics at La Trobe University)

Prime Minister JUlia Gillard, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama and Russian at APEC this week. The annoucement of a Trans-Pacific Partnership in trade is not all good news for Australia.

China holds an open attitude to Trans-Pacific Partnership pact: official,xinhua,11.11.15

Deal seen boosting TPP bid,Business World(Philippine),11.11.15

Farmers want to press Obama on agricultural aid,ABC Rural News,11.15

Farmers are urging the Prime Minister to push for reforms to agricultural subsidies in the United States when President Barack Obama visits Canberra this week.
In his first presidential visit to Australia, President Obama will address Federal Parliament and visit Darwin

Dairy and poultry protection ‘non-negotiable,’ Charest declares,Globe and Mail,11.11.15

Quebec Premier Jean Charest says there's no way the Canadian government will give up the country's complex supply-management system in upcoming trade talks.The protectionist system governing poultry, dairy and eggs creates higher prices for Canadian consumers and has drawn ire abroad, but it profits domestic farmers・・・

He says the place to have a broad conversation about agriculture programs is at the global level, at the World Trade Organization. He said the same applies to other countries' agriculture subsidies.
“The supply-management system is non-negotiable,” he told reporters, speaking about the trans-Pacific trade talks.
“We're in the middle of Canada-Europe negotiations and we've never thought in the Canada-Europe negotiations that Quebec, or Canada, would settle with Europe on an issue like this one.
“Because it is a global issue. It's at the World Trade Organization that this will be settled.”

Is Harper putting dairy and poultry protection on the table in trade talks? ,Globe and Mial,11.14

・・・Deborah Elms, a Singapore-based scholar and Trans-Pacific talks expert, said・・・What I’m getting is that the Americans did not want Japan to join by themselves. Therefore, they went back to Canada and asked them to join again.” Prof. Elms suggests Canada may have been granted some sort of guarantee by the United States that it would not have to make concessions that would erode the tariff walls protecting the dairy and poultry sectors.

No guarantees on Pacific trade, despite Harper's 180,Globe and Mial,11.14

Canada under pressure to dismantle food quotas,FT.com,11.14

Pressure is growing on Canada to dismantle the longstanding but contentious panoply of quotas and import restrictions that protect its dairy and poultry producers from foreign competition.
The latest threat to the so-called “supply management” system comes from Japan’s decision to seek membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the emerging Asia-Pacific trade agreement, despite stiff opposition from Japanese farmers.

Concerns raised over APEC trade deal,ABC(Australia),11.14

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has dismissed concerns about a proposed Pacific free trade deal, saying it will mean more business and more jobs for Australia.
Nine APEC leaders believe they have nutted out a deal which will see a phasing out of tariffs and other trade barriers from next year.
The leaders love the idea, but unions, the Greens and some Labor MPs are worried the deal could disadvantage Australia.

US, China spar on free trade deal,ABC(Australia),11.14

Statement By U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk On Announcements From Mexico And Canada Regarding The Trans-Pacific Partnership,USTR,11.13

Gillard says agriculture will benefit from Pacific trade deal,ABC Rural News(Australia),11.13

APEC leaders agree on trade deal outline,ABC(Australia),11.13

Obama at APEC summit: China must ‘play by the rules’,The Washington Post,11.13

Obama Sees an Opening on China Trade,The New York Times,11.13

U.S.-China tensions colour APEC meet ,The Hindu,11.13

China-ASEAN Free Trade Area benefits both sides: Chinese Commerce Minister,xinhua,11.13

Ministers explain China's positions at APEC ministerial meeting,xinhua,11.13

Gillard heralds new era of trans-Pacific trade ,The Age(Australia),11.13

America turns to the Pacific,The Age(Australia),11.13

Statement By U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk On Announcements From Mexico And Canada Regarding The Trans-Pacific Partnership,USTR,11.13

Leaders eye final Trans-Pacific deal in 2012,Reuters,11.12

“Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak went further, even though a joint TPP leaders' statement had no specific target date.
"We've reached broad agreement that July should be our deadline," Najib told reporters.”
“Najib said leaders "accepted in principle" allowing Japan and other countries to join those already involved in the trade talks but stressed this should not delay the process.
The July deadline was "ambitious because of the enormous amount of work that needs to be done but we'll push as hard as we can and hopefully we'll be able to achieve the target that has been set," Najib said.

Chinese, Vietnamese presidents discuss bilateral ties,xinhua,11.12

Outlines of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement,USTR,11.12

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Ministers’ Report to Leaders,USTR,11.12

Trans-Pacific Partnership Leaders Statement,USTR,11.12

The United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership,USTR,11.12

Remarks by President Barack Obama in Meeting with Trans-Pacific Partnership,USTR,11.12

TPP LEADERS AGREE TO BROAD PACT BY JULY 2012,Bernama(Malaysia),11.12

Japan,mexico & Camada keen to join TPP,Bernama(Malaysia),11.12

Japan's TPP plans 'threat to NZ exports',Yahoo!New Zealand,11.12

UPDATE 2-US says Japan must meet high TPP standards,Reuters,11.11.11

Japan set to join trade discussions,FT.com,11.11.11

Canada, Mexico eye joining US-led Pacific pact,Reuters,11.11.11