Pacific trade talks 'unlikely to end in a final pact'

[cal04]

Sources at Hawaii meet say Trans-Pacific Partnership is being held up by disputes on car, drug and dairy trade

Talks on a Pacific Rim free-trade pact are unlikely to end in a final deal, sources involved in the negotiations have said, with a dispute between Japan and the United States over autos, New Zealand digging in over trade in dairy products and no agreement on monopoly periods for next-generation drugs.

Trade ministers from the 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would stretch from Japan to Chile and cover 40 percent of the world economy, postponed a news conference until 02:00 GMT on Saturday morning on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Three sources involved in the talks told the Reuters news agency that a last-minute breakthrough was unlikely due to issues with dairy and auto trade and a standoff over biologic drugs made from living cells.

"It would be very difficult to arrive at a deal," one of the officials said, requesting anonymity because discussions were ongoing.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/pacific-trade-talks-final-pact-tpp-hawaii-150801010407557.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/01/us-trade-tpp-idUSKCN0Q52FL20150801
(snip)
Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the problem lay with the "big four" economies of the United States, Canada, Japan and Mexico. "The sad thing is, 98 percent is concluded," he said. "I don't know how sticky it is."

Failure to seal the agreement will be a setback for U.S. President Barack Obama, given the trade pact's stance as the economic arm of the administration's pivot to Asia and an opportunity to balance out China's influence in the region.

The talks, which drew about 650 negotiators, 150 journalists and hundreds of stakeholders to the Hawaiian island of Maui, had been billed as the last chance to get a deal in time to pass the U.S. Congress this year, before 2016 presidential elections muddy the waters.

The deal 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.

[99th_Monkey]

1. The unabated greed of the very corporation who fucking WROTE the damn TPP

is now killing it?

May it be so.

[SusanCalvin]

2. Good. nt

[City Lights]

3. Keeping my fingers crossed. nt

[LongTomH]

4. That's like getting a reprieve because the hangmen couldn't agree on the knot!!!!!

At least it's a reprieve. This should become an issue in 2016.

[bbgrunt]

5. yep. I don't trust news like this.

[eridani]

6. Good! But no slacking on vigilance, please!