12 Pacific countries seal huge free trade deal
(AFP) – They now must sell the pact to their people and parliaments for ratification, with many suspicious about a deal negotiated in intense secrecy and being delivered to them as an unmodifiable whole for an up-or-down vote.
Twelve Pacific rim countries sealed a deal creating the world’s largest free trade area, delivering President Barack Obama a major policy triumph.
Working around the clock for days past their deadline, haggard trade ministers announced they reached agreement on the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership just before dawn, capping five years of difficult talks led by the United States.
Spanning about two-fifths of the global economy, the hard-won deal aims to set the rules for 21st century trade and investment and press China, not among the 12, to shape its behavior in commerce, investment and business regulation to TPP standards.
Obama hailed the agreement as one that “strengthens our strategic relationships with our partners and allies in a region that will be vital to the 21st century.”
“When more than 95 percent of our potential customers live outside our borders, we can’t let countries like China write the rules of the global economy,” Obama said in a statement.
In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised the “historic” accord, saying it opens more access to the Japan market for Canadian farmers and resource sectors.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also said it would deliver strong benefits for his country’s businesses.
And in New Zealand, where there was disappointment at not achieving more openings to the country’s prodigious dairy exports, Prime Minister John Key said it nevertheless meant “more jobs, higher incomes and a better standard of living.”
