Trade officials pursue TPP in Tokyo
US is real threat to global trade, not itself: China
TOKYO, Jan 22, (Agencies): Trade officials gathered in Japan on Monday for two days of talks to try to forge a trade pact that US President Donald Trump abandoned last year, but the new 11-member club risks getting bogged down by resistance from Canada.
The member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), also known as TPP 11, reached a basic agreement on the pact in November.
But Canada is holding out to secure protection of its cultural industries, like movies, TV, and music, and has said it will not be rushed into signing a deal that other members hope to conclude by March.
That is casting a shadow over a meeting of trade officials from member countries this week in Tokyo and raises questions about the economic benefits of a pact that doesn’t bring Canada into the fold.
“There are still gaps,” between Canada and other members, Kazuhisa Shibuya, Japan’s senior TPP official, told reporters after the first day meetings, according to Kyodo news agency.
The economic impact of the TPP would be “significantly further eroded” if Canada postponed its decision to join, said Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at IHS Markit.
After Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement last year, Japan took a leading role in pushing for a replacement pact.
Along with Australia and Mexico, Tokyo has lobbied hard for the agreement, which aims to eliminate trading barriers and tariffs on industrial and farm products across the 11-nation bloc whose trade totalled $356 billion in 2016.
“Our strong preference is for all 11 countries to join the first wave, but our focus is on bringing a new TPP agreement into force as soon as possible with those who are ready to move,” Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in Tokyo last week.
The current talks in Tokyo are expected to iron out technical differences on rules for the treatment of labour and intellectual property but are unlikely to yield a conclusive statement that member countries will quickly sign the pact.
Meanwhile, the United States, not China, threatens the global trade system, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday, after US President Donald Trump’s administration called US support for Beijing’s joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 a mistake.
WTO rules have proved ineffective in making China embrace a market-oriented trade regime, and the United States “erred” in backing China’s entry to the trade body on such terms, the office of the US Trade Representative said last week.
Its report came as Trump weighs a series of trade actions against Beijing, including a decision in a “Section 301” investigation into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property, expected in the next few weeks.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that since China joined the WTO, it had strictly followed the body’s rules, carried out its obligations and contributed to the development of the multilateral system.