US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday “good progress” was made toward the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal last week, even though negotiators failed to reach an accord during marathon talks in Hawaii.
“As with any complex negotiation... there remain details to be hashed out,” Kerry said in a speech during a stop in Singapore on his way to meetings of the 10 country ASEAN in Malaysia today.
“Last week in Hawaii, we made good progress in our negotiations,” he said, adding that nations negotiating the TPP were “pressing on to work through tough negotiations on even the most sensitive issues.”
On Friday last week, Pacific Rim trade ministers failed to clinch a deal on the TPP — the key economic arm of US President Barack Obama’s rebalance to Asia in the face of China’s growing influence in the region.
The talks on the TPP, which would free up trade in an area covering 40 percent of the world’s economy, stalled after a dispute flared up over auto trade between Japan and North America, New Zealand dug in over dairy trade and no agreement was reached on monopoly periods for next-generation drugs.
Singapore and three other ASEAN nations — Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam — are part of the TPP negotiations.
Even though the Hawaii talks were billed as the last chance to get a deal in time to pass US Congress this year before next year’s presidential elections muddy the waters, trade ministers remained confident that an agreement was within reach.
Kerry said the trade talks were “nearing completion” and called the TPP “a tangible means of demonstrating America’s firm and enduring commitment to the security and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific [region].”
The TPP seeks to meld bilateral questions of market access for exports with one-size-fits-all standards on issues ranging from workers’ rights to environmental protection and dispute settlement between governments and foreign investors.
The White House said on Monday that US negotiators were working to find common ground with other nations, but also the best deal for Americans, and that any deal would have to meet Obama’s criteria.
Japan and the US had largely agreed on the rules of origin for cars, which determine when a product is designated as coming from within the free-trade zone and therefore not subject to import duties, but they ran into problems trying to get buy-in from Canada and Mexico, which are closely tied to the US auto industry.
Japanese automakers source many car parts from Thailand, another ASEAN member, but not a TPP participant, and strict rules would upset existing supply chains.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of