America will sign the TPP - John Key
3News | Sat, 09 Mar 2013
America will sign the TPP - John Key
Prime Minister John Key is confident America will sign one of the world’s largest free trade deals, because its economic hands are tied.
Speaking to a business breakfast in Chile’s capital Santiago overnight, Mr Key says there’s a very real chance the Trans Pacific Partnership, which includes Chile, will be signed later this year.
It’s estimated to be worth billions of dollars to our exporters, but opposition from protectionist lobby groups in the US has stymied progress, with the deal in its sixteenth round of negotiations.
But, Mr Key says the American government is broke and cannot print any more money to boost growth.
“So how on earth, if you’re Obama, do you actually stimulate the economy and get jobs? The only way through it for him is basically through exporting, and the fastest way to do that in volume is in Asia. That’s why we think Americans will actually do the deal,” he says.
John Key has rubbished critics of free trade in New Zealand, saying there’s no evidence to support claims that a free trade agreement would hurt the domestic economy.
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