The full details are available form the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
The long-awaited text of a landmark U.S.-backed Pacific trade deal was released on Thursday, revealing the details of a pact aimed at freeing up commerce in 40 percent of the world’s economy but criticized for its opacity.
If ratified, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be a legacy-defining achievement for U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration’s pivot to Asia, aimed at countering China’s rising economic and political influence.
China has responded with its own Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a proposed 16-nation free-trade area including India that would be the world’s biggest such bloc, encompassing 3.4 billion people.
But TPP, which will set common standards on issues ranging from workers’ rights to intellectual property protection in 12 Pacific nations, was kept largely from public scrutiny, angering transparency advocates concerned over its broad implications.
“The TPP means that America will write the rules of the road in the 21st century,” Obama said in post online. “If we don’t pass this agreement – if America doesn’t write those rules – then countries like China will.”
The White House is likely to formally notify U.S. lawmakers on Thursday that the president intends to sign deal, a senior Obama administration official said. That would start the 90-day clock before his signature triggers the next step in a process of seeking final congressional approval for the deal.
