TPP’s all signed with delivery expected by end of year
TRADE Minister Steve Ciobo was optimistic the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact would take effect by the end of the year after Australia signed on to the 11-country deal yesterday.
The deal will eliminate 98 per cent of tariffs in a marketplace worth
$18 trillion.
At the signing ceremony in Chile, Mr Ciobo said legislation on the pact would be introduced to parliament this month ahead of a joint standing committee inquiry into the TPP. He expects Australia’s domestic processes to be settled by the end of September.
“This is a very good day for trade,” Mr Ciobo said. “We are sending a mutual signal that we recognise the policy orthodoxy of trade.”
The deal had been on life support after the US’s withdrawal but was resuscitated in January as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership following lobbying from Japan and Australia.
The new version removed aspects the US insisted on and made them optional, not binding.
Mr Ciobo said several other countries had expressed “peripheral interest” in joining the TPP.
He said Australian farmers, service providers, manufacturers and small businesses would be the big winners.
Australian exporters would benefit from new trade agreements with Canada and Mexico and greater market access to Japan, Chile, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
There was a side deal with Canada to phase out tariffs on beef exports.
There is also a better deal for cheese and beef exports to Japan and new quotas for rice and wheat.
Australian sugar will also have better access to Japan, Canada and Mexico.
The TPP deal covers Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.