USTR: No trade minister meeting until TPP is ready
August 03, 2015 |08:40 PM
SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M — Trade ministers from the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations do not want to meet again until they are ready to finalize the agreement, Sharon Bomer Lauritsen, the U.S. assistant trade representative for agricultural affairs and commodity policy said here today.
“From the perspective of ministers, we want to know we can conclude before we schedule the next meeting,” Bomer Lauritsen told the American Sugar Alliance in the question-and-answer period of a speech she gave after flying here from the negotiations on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
She said TPP is very important to the United States because regional trade agreements have spread throughout the world and because “this is the administration’s major platform for building trade in the Asia-Pacific region.”
She noted that Australia has an edge in selling beef to Japan since the two countries signed a free-trade agreement.
She also noted that the United States wants to deal with the issue of geographical indicators, which the European Union has tried to include in bilateral agreements with Asian countries. Under the GI system, sparkling wine can only be called Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of France, for example.
Bomer Lauritsen said the TPP will include provisions on biotechnology and on organic agriculture, which creates “a nice balance.”
In Maui, she said, negotiators “did make significant progress” and that “there are a number of elements that are stabilized.” In a trade negotiation, she noted, nothing is final until everything is agreed to.
“In this last stage of negotiations we are confident TPP is within reach,” but autos and agricultural market access are among the final issues, and within agriculture, dairy and sugar are the most difficult,” she said.
“This last stage of negotiations are always the most difficult, so it should not be surprising with 12 countries that are final gaps that still need to be bridged,” she said. “Negotiators are returning to their capitals to get mandates. It is on a path toward completion.”
Don Phillips, the ASA trade adviser who was also in Hawaii, told reporters that not reaching completion “was a disappointment to the negotiators who had been working pretty hard.”
But Phillips also said he believes the agreement will get done, but, as with all trade negotiations, it is difficult to predict when.
“From the perspective of ministers, we want to know we can conclude before we schedule the next meeting,” Bomer Lauritsen told the American Sugar Alliance in the question-and-answer period of a speech she gave after flying here from the negotiations on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
She said TPP is very important to the United States because regional trade agreements have spread throughout the world and because “this is the administration’s major platform for building trade in the Asia-Pacific region.”
She noted that Australia has an edge in selling beef to Japan since the two countries signed a free-trade agreement.
She also noted that the United States wants to deal with the issue of geographical indicators, which the European Union has tried to include in bilateral agreements with Asian countries. Under the GI system, sparkling wine can only be called Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of France, for example.
Bomer Lauritsen said the TPP will include provisions on biotechnology and on organic agriculture, which creates “a nice balance.”
In Maui, she said, negotiators “did make significant progress” and that “there are a number of elements that are stabilized.” In a trade negotiation, she noted, nothing is final until everything is agreed to.
“In this last stage of negotiations we are confident TPP is within reach,” but autos and agricultural market access are among the final issues, and within agriculture, dairy and sugar are the most difficult,” she said.
“This last stage of negotiations are always the most difficult, so it should not be surprising with 12 countries that are final gaps that still need to be bridged,” she said. “Negotiators are returning to their capitals to get mandates. It is on a path toward completion.”
Don Phillips, the ASA trade adviser who was also in Hawaii, told reporters that not reaching completion “was a disappointment to the negotiators who had been working pretty hard.”
But Phillips also said he believes the agreement will get done, but, as with all trade negotiations, it is difficult to predict when.
