bilaterals.org logo
bilaterals.org logo

CPTPP


Timing may be everything in TPP
As emerging Asian economies facilitate growth in the region and increasingly stand out as important players in global trade, the United States appears intent on getting its own share of the pie in the form of taking a leadership role in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade framework.
In Japan, possible free trade deal comes with an argument
In an upscale neighborhood where Japanese buy their handbags and smartphones, furious farmers drove their tractors down the main road last week in their latest protest against a controversial regionwide free-trade pact.
11 million signatures gathered in Japan against free trade pact
Japanese farmers groups submitted 11.67 million signatures to the government Monday on a petition opposing Japan’s participation in trade liberalization talks with other Pacific Rim countries.
Reformist Japan farmers urge free trade to spur change
With farmers like Saito outnumbered by those who fear opening up Japan’s farm market, Prime Minister Noda must face down opposition inside his Democratic Party of Japan if he is to tell US President Barack Obama that Tokyo wants to join the talks when they meet at a Nov. 12-13 Asia-Pacific summit in Hawaii.
Japanese farmers protest against possible trade pact
Thousands of Japanese farmers marched through central Tokyo on Wednesday to push the government not to join a regional free trade pact that will likely hit the nation’s small farmers.
Anti-TPP rallies around Japan
Agricultural and medical groups in Japan have held rallies to oppose the country’s participation in the talks for a free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan speeds up TPP decision-making process, unveils plan to back farmers
The Japanese government is trying to accelerate its decision on whether to join multilateral negotiations for a Pacific-wide trade pact while compiling a package to support the nation’s farmers, who fear being inundated by cheap imports if Japan decides to enter the pact.
TPP - US regulatory coherence proposal (Sep 2011)
Citizen Trade Campaign has released this September 2011 proposal from the US on regulatory coherence under the Trans Pacific Partnership
TPP - US transparency proposal (2011)
Citizen Trade Campaign has released this September 2011 proposal from the US on transparency under the Trans Pacific Partnership
TPP - US TBT proposal (2011)
Citizen Trade Campaign has released this proposed text from the US on technical barriers to trade relating to medical devices and pharmaceuticals under the Trans Pacific Partnership
TPP - US IPR proposal (Sep 2011)
Citizen Trade Campaign has released this September 2011 proposal from the US on IPR under the Trans Pacific Partnership
Leaked Trans-Pacific FTA texts reveal US undermining access to medicine
Leaks of US proposals for the Trans-Pacific free trade agreement reveal that the Obama administration has reversed reforms designed to enhance access to affordable medicines made during the George W Bush administration and is instead demanding new rights for pharmaceutical firms to challenge pricing and other drug formulary policies used by many developed countries to keep down prices,
TPPA ’threatens national sovereignty’
Despite the secrecy, there are some intrepid souls who are mounting opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership. Interview with one of them, Jane Kelsey, a professor of law at the University of Auckland and long-term academic activist in the area of free trade and investment agreements.
Govt likely to expand compensation for farmers
With participation in Trans-Pacific Partnership comprehensive trade talks and resumption of an economic partnership agreement with Australia on the horizon, the Japanese government is likely to increase its direct payments to farmers by several hundred billion yen, it has been learned.
Free trade agreements kill people!
"In light of threats from FTAs and TPP, we call on our governments to completely reject the attempts to conclude the upcoming agreements and to stop the implentation of the previous FTAs."
Civil society platform on IP in the Trans Pacific Partnership
Eight civil society groups have released a platform on the intellectual property and health content of the Trans Pacific Partnership. The platform calls ex-officio border measures “inappropriate,” rejects a “one size fits all” regime for patent validity, and warns against using the suggested retail price or rightholder-submitted measurements of value in the determination of damages for IP infringement.
Pacific nations eye ’stepping-stone’ trade deal
The United States and eight other Pacific countries hope to announce the crux of a major trade deal at an Asia-Pacific summit next month, officials said Monday, a step toward an elusive APEC-wide accord.
Pacific free trade pact may allow no exceptions: gov’t tells DPJ
The Japanese government told ruling party lawmakers Monday that it is unclear whether exceptions will be admitted in abolishing tariffs under the proposed trans-Pacific free trade framework as they weighed whether Japan should join talks for the multilateral pact.
ASEAN prepares framework of principles for Asia-Pacific wide FTA
This move reflects a deep concern among some member countries that ASEAN could be sidelined by the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership that has attracted attention even as it is being negotiated, especially if Japan decides to come on board, ASEAN official sources said.
Free-trade backers eye trans-Pacific
Now that US Congress approved free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, trade experts want lawmakers to harness the momentum and turn their attention to other potential deals in what is seen as a way to boost the economy and create jobs: sealing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, getting Russia to join the WTO, and creating FTAs with the EU and Brazil.