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| Image: Flickr User - The White House |
By Prashanth Parameswaran
Agreement announced on historic trade pact.
The United States 11 other Pacific Rim countries reached agreement Monday on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a mammoth free trade pact representing nearly 40 percent of GDP, capping more than five years of negotiations.
Negotiators spent a week of talks to find consensus on key issues in the TPP, which also includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Plans over the weekend to announce the deal were repeatedly delayed, with talks on some issues in the 29-chapter long draft deal extending into 5am Monday morning, negotiators said.
But at a Monday morning press conference past the scheduled 9am time in Atlanta, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced that the TPP countries had finally reached agreement.
“We, the trade ministers…are pleased to announce that we have successfully concluded the Trans-Pacific Partnership. After more than five years of intensive negotiations, we have to an agreement that will support jobs, drive sustainable growth, foster inclusive development and promote innovation across the Asia-Pacific region,” Froman said at the press conference, reading from the TPP ministers’ statement that was released later.
Read the full story at The Diplomat