20 items suspended in new 11-member TPP

November 11, 2017

DA NANG, VIETNAM- Japan and 10 other countries announced Saturday a new Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal, which calls for 20 of the provisions included in the original 12-member TPP to be frozen until the United States' possible return to the pact in the future.

The new pact, called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, will take effect 60 days after six of the 11 member countries complete ratification procedures. The 11 members reached a broad accord on the new TPP at their ministerial meeting in Danang, central Vietnam, this week.

The new pact was unveiled at a press conference, held in the Vietnamese city on Saturday by Vietnam's Industry and Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh and Japanese Economic Revitalization Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who co-chaired of the ministerial meeting.

The new pact "maintains the high standards, overall balance and integrity" of the original pact, the 11 countries said in a joint statement on the broad accord.

The 11 countries stopped short of substantially amending the original TPP, assuming the United States' future comeback to the pact. The 11 nations are expected to sign the new pact by the end of the first half of next year and then start domestic procedures for ratification.

The administration of U.S. president Donald Trump withdrew his country from the original TPP, which was broadly agreed and signed in October 2015 and February 2016, respectively, by the 12 nations, including the United States, then led by Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

Following the U.S. exit, how many of the provisions in the original TPP would be suspended had been the biggest focus in the negotiations on the new pact without the United States.

The 11 countries had requested the suspension of a total of nearly 60 provisions, but the number was narrowed down to 20 in the broad agreement on the new pact.

Of the 20 provision, 11 are related to intellectual property rights. The other nine include those related to trade and investment rules, such as part of a provision on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) systems and a provision related to dispute settlement in the field of telecommunications.

The 11 nations did not freeze or amend tariff-related items, such as import quotas for agricultural products, an area of strong interest for many member nations, in order to avoid confusion.

Meanwhile, the 11 countries remained apart on four items, including the suspension of a ban on preferential treatments for state-owned companies and the exemption of cultural and industrial properties in the field of intellectual property protection, sought by Malaysia and Canada, respectively.

The countries will work on finding common ground on the four items by the time they sign the new deal.

For its effectuation, the original TPP required ratification by six members that account for more than 85 pct of the 12 countries' total gross domestic product, meaning that it would not take effect without ratification by the United States.

The GDP-related condition was lifted in the new 11-member trade deal.

Japan's Motegi earlier said the 11 countries reached a broad agreement on the new pact at Thursday's ministerial meeting. But a summit among the countries, planned for Friday, was canceled as Canada raised objections to the pact.

However, ministers from the 11 nations reconfirmed the broad accord at a meeting held from Friday evening.

At Saturday's press conference, Motegi described the broad accord among the 11 countries as an "important step" toward achieving the 12-member TPP, stressing Japan's intention to continue urging the United States to return to the pact.

Anh of Vietnam stressed that his country will continue working with a determination. Jiji Press