ISDS Case Map
CPTPP
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
New Zealand on Monday hit back at a group of 30 U.S. senators who accused the country's dairy industry of anticompetitive practices, as a first round of talks ended for a free trade agreement.
The possible entry of Colombia into the TPP illustrates the unprecedented nature of the TPP.
Why is the Rudd government entering into new free trade negotiations with the Obama administration? Australia has nothing to gain except a further erosion of our sovereignty and Barack Obama lacks authority from Congress to undertake a binding agreement.
Prime Minister John Key said the NZ-US free trade agreement could not go ahead if the powerful US dairy lobby succeeded in excluding agriculture from the terms of the agreement.
Surveys have consistently shown that most Australians consider the Free Trade Agreement the Howard government signed with the US in 2004 was a bad deal. So why would any Australian government want another trade deal with the US?
The Asia-Pacific is one place where there's room for US exports to increase dramatically, and a growing TPP would certainly help on that score. However, free trade deals are never an easy sell, and they become tougher still when the domestic jobs picture is bleak.
The first step to an Asia-Pacific-wide trade pact will be taken on Monday, with officials from eight nations meeting in Melbourne.
Talks begin in Melbourne today to lift what began as a 2001 pact between New Zealand and Singapore to a powerful "new generation" regional free trade deal that the United States has made a top trade priority.
Malaysia said Thursday that negotiations towards a bilateral trade pact with the United States have been shelved and it is now considering joining a regional deal promoted by the US.
"The US bilateral (free-trade) talk is not on, so we have to explore other alternatives. It is for that reason we are keen to come on board (the TPP) subject to local consultations," Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed says
