TPP Negotiations Research Articles

Alcohol labelling rules in free trade agreements: Advancing the industry's interests at the expense of the public's health.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) included novel rules for wine and spirits requiring parties to allow wine and spirits importers to display information required by the importing country on a supplementary label rather than on the standard label. Since the TPP negotiations concluded, alcohol-specific supplementary labelling rules have begun to appear in other trade agreements. The aim of this paper was to map the new instruments containing these rules and examine developments in the rules with implications for health information on alcohol containers. Trade agreements signed after the TPP negotiations concluded were retrieved and searched for alcohol-specific labelling provisions. A legal analysis of these provisions and related exceptions was undertaken. Supplementary labelling rules similar or identical to those in the TPP have been included in five subsequent trade agreements. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement also includes several additional provisions about alcohol labelling. Exceptions in the agreements provide some space for governments to defend labelling measure that might otherwise breach the rules, in the event of a dispute. By securing these rules, the alcohol industry is better positioned to claim the space on the standard label as industry 'real estate' and to oppose mandatory health information incorporated into the standard labelling. These risks can be mitigated by stemming the adoption of supplementary labelling rules in further trade agreements; clarifying the text of agreements and ensuring that regulators understand that the rules do not prevent the use of 'best-practice' warning labels.

Two-level game analysis of Japan in the TPP negotiations

Starting his second term as Japanese prime minister in late 2012, Shinzo Abe regarded Japan’s participation in TPP negotiations as one of the top priority foreign policy issues. Abe successfully acquired a concession from President Barack Obama in order to enter the TPP negotiations without prior commitment to the total elimination of tariffs. After entry into the negotiations, Japan found a way to offer a tariff elimination on the politically sensitive agricultural products. Although the Japanese negotiation team was a latecomer in the TPP negotiation, its members played an instrumental role in reaching an agreement by helping other negotiating partners in the process. In addition, other factors including Japan-Australia FTA, the break-up of the Japan-US cabinet level meeting, and the Chinese initiative in AIIB motivated the American negotiators to reach an agreement. Japan’s role became even more important with the US withdrawal from the agreement, eventually contributing to a successful conclusion of the TPP agreement among 11 countries. Employing a two-level game framework, this study examines how Japan reached an important agreement with the United States in the original TPP negotiations, and then, after the American withdrawal, with other countries in the TPP 11 negotiations.

Analysis of the Impact of TPP on China's Participation in Northeast Asia Economic and Trade Cooperation

In the new period of global economic recovery, China’s comprehensive national strength has gradually increased, while the United States, Japan and Australia and other countries have decreased in relative strength. In order to revitalize the domestic economy, twelve countries including the United States actively participated in the TPP negotiations, and the United States withdrew from the TPP negotiations in 2017, which have a profound impact on the pattern of regional economic integration in Northeast Asia. This paper starts with the establishment and development of TPP, combining the research results of TPP at home and abroad and the status of regional integration in Northeast Asia, and analyzes the impact of TPP on China's participation in Northeast Asia economic and trade cooperation.

The Transatlantic Partnership Agreement: an American perspective

AbstractThis paper discusses the internal dynamics of American trade policy making in the context of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. The author describes the active role interest groups, the U.S. business community, and representatives on both sides of the political spectrum have played in the passing of Transatlantic Partnership Agreement (TPA), the TPP negotiations, and currently the TTIP debate. Lastly, the author lays out the challenges TTIP will continue to face in light of opposition to specific TPP provisions, trans-atlantic disagreement over ISDS and data flows, and the recent presidential elections.

Remarks by Rachel Brewster

I agree with Warren's comments, particularly about driving students and reporters to trade lawyers' doors. I think that we all, in the trade community, seem to be breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, a hesitant sigh at the moment, that China's not going to be labeled the currency manipulator, that we have not withdrawn from NAFTA. But I also don't want to overemphasize the go slow. I mean, one of the first acts that Trump did was withdraw from the TPP negotiations, and I think that the loss of TPP is a mixed bag for the United States. I think that there was certainly a lot of criticism within the United States of the TPP negotiations and it's not clear that a Clinton presidency would have been a strong supporter of that.

Foreign Policy and Trade Law: Japan's Unexpected Leadership in TPP Negotiations

After decades of focusing largely on multilateral trade rules, the past fifteen years witnessed a surge of free trade agreements by East Asian governments. Regional production networks benefit from harmonization of rules and lowering trade barriers. Yet several features stand out in these agreements—they focus on goods trade and are not embedded in strong regional institutions for shared decision making. This reflects both the divergent preferences among widely different countries and the reluctance of Japan or China to advocate any policies beyond liberalization of trade and investment. The TPP broke the mold of East Asian PTAs largely due to the leadership of the United States, which pushed others to adopt new rules on labor, environment, digital trade, state-owned enterprises, and competition policy. Yet, surprisingly, these features may persist in trade law despite the exit of the United States from the agreement. A key reason is the transformation of Japan, which began as a bystander to the agreement and now stands as one of its strongest advocates. A second reason is the use of templates in trade agreements, which can transfer the negotiated terms from one deal into subsequent agreements.

The Economics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Understanding the Alternative Estimates

Since the conclusion of the TPP negotiations, a number of studies have been put in the public domain providing estimates of the likely impacts. The estimates vary by a very large magnitude, from negative impacts to major gains, which has raised questions about the methodologies being used to generate them. This note reviews the sources of differences of seven studies, including official studies released by the United States and Canada. It demonstrates that studies of the TPP that are based on close readings of the TPP text find small impacts, when the agreement is evaluated in conventional terms.

TPP negotiations and political economy reforms in Japan’s executive policy making: a two-level game analysis

TPP negotiations and political economy reforms in Japan’s executive policy making: a two-level game analysis

환태평양경제동반자협정(TPP) 협상에 참여한 일본의 입장

환태평양경제동반자협정(TPP) 협상에 참여한 일본의 입장

Shaping the discourse: What has the food industry been lobbying for in the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement and what are the implications for dietary health?

The Trans Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), emblematic of the new generation of free trade agreements, is a regional agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries. This paper reports on a study into how the food industry has framed issues in an effort to influence the TPP. We undertook a thematic analysis of the issues raised in publicly available submissions by the food industry to the trade negotiating bodies of four TPP countries: Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America (USA). The food industry is an active player in trade negotiations, mainly through food industry associations and other business associations. The submissions assumed that trade liberalization would result in more exports and investment, as well as raise living standards and benefit the economy and country. There was little mention of food as anything other than a commodity, focusing on types and quantities of food traded and what this meant for revenue generation, with no connection to nutritional health. The TPP could affect food systems and population health in ways that are not readily apparent to governments, policy makers or the public. The written submissions mechanism is one way in which the food industry could have shaped the agreement by framing the issues, influencing the content and direction of the TPP negotiations and agreement itself. If coherence between trade and health goals is to be strengthened, the public health community needs to engage with industry arguments and build a strong counter-argument that gives more prominence to health concerns.

【シンポジウム報告：論文】／農産物輸出におけるマーケティング戦略の課題

Facing the decreasing trend of domestic food demand and also the share of domestic products, market penetration to abroad is one of the urgent strategies for domestic agricultural producers. This study firstly examines the possibilities of it with checking the fruits of EPA and TPP negotiations briefly. Secondly, it is revealed that branding and promotion strategies become structural problems among individual producing area brands and All- Japan brand as an umbrella brand. To show the criteria of selecting a branding strategy, strategic choice of advertise and promotion by umbrella brand and each area brands in sequential game is examined. And the criteria is explained mainly by the signs of advertise and promotion's spillover effect and strategic effect.

FTA (A Study on Japan's FTA Strategy and its Policy Implications for Korea)

FTA (A Study on Japan's FTA Strategy and its Policy Implications for Korea)

El TPP, la inclusión de nuevos miembros y el futuro del APEC

Este año se espera terminar las negociaciones del TPP (aunque esto no parece fácil), que sería uno de los acuerdos de liberalización más ambiciosos pues no dejaría ningún sector de la economía fuera de ese proceso. Del 22 al 25 de febrero y otra vez el 19 y 20 de mayo se realizaron en Singapur reuniones de ministros de Comercio y jefes de los equipos negociadores de los países miembros del TPP, pero al término de esas reuniones quedaron todavía pendientes varios temas.Se considera que el TPP podría ser una vía para finalizar el propio proceso de liberalización entre las 21 economías del APEC.En este artículo se analiza el proceso de liberalización del TPP, empezando primero con describir qué es el TPP; en segundo término se ven los puntos que negocia el TPP, especialmente los más contenciosos; en tercer lugar se ve que es lo que el Perú puede ganar de este proceso; en cuarto término se habla de la inclusión de posibles nuevos miembros, analizando el caso específico de Taiwán y también la posición de China; en quinto lugar se habla del TPP y el futuro del APEC; y por último se dan unas conclusiones.

Diplomatic Objectives in Trade Politics: The Development of the China-Japan-Korea FTA

This article seeks to analyze the development of free trade agreement (FTA) policies adopted by China, Japan, and South Korea with particular interests in the trilateral FTA. It seeks to address what the determinant factors that have conditioned the development of the trilateral FTA are. While the three governments began the informal joint study of the trilateral FTA in 2003, they pursued diverse trade strategies that disturbed a shift to formal negotiations. However, China's strategy to hedge against the US influence in East Asia became a catalyst in shifting from the long-lasting study stage to the launching of negotiations. Moreover, Japan's strategy to participate in TPP negotiations as a soft balancing against China through closer political linkages with the United States weakened China's and South Korea's willingness to engage in the trilateral FTA positively. Thus, the three countries’ commitments to the trilateral FTA were primarily confined by their specific diplomatic objectives responding to the political-economic evolutions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Agricultural Cooperatives Reform and TPP Negotiations.

Agricultural Cooperatives Reform and TPP Negotiations.

TPP Negotiations and Political Economy Reforms in Japan’s Executive Policy Making: A Two-Level Game Analysis

TPP Negotiations and Political Economy Reforms in Japan’s Executive Policy Making: A Two-Level Game Analysis

Summary of General Discussion on “Emerging Mega-FTAs: Rationale, Challenges, and Implications”

Jung Sung Chun said the Korean government is considering whether or not to join the TPP and when. Three important issues to consider are: 1) China is an important country from a political perspective, and maybe the Chinese will think that Korea joining TPP will be bad for them. 2) Japan is the second factor. Ten years ago, Japan and Korea started to negotiate a FTA, which failed because of issues related to the manufacturing sector for Korea and the agricultural sector for Japan. The agricultural sector issue is not too important anymore, but Korean SMEs resist TPP negotiations because of Japan's strong manufacturing. 3) The agricultural factor is also an obstacle. Many people think that Japan needs to reform its agricultural sector. Korea thinks that Japan will eventually give up protecting five agricultural items. If so, Korea will lose a partner in agricultural protectionism.Bhanuphong Nidhiprabha pointed out the need to consider the impact of increasing trade integration on the world business cycle. Shocks in the United States will not hurt China or India, but with mega-trade blocks, it may be harder for countries to diversify risks.Siow Yue Chia responded by noting the interesting points brought up by Jung on Korea and addressed Nidhiprabha's comment by saying that there is a tradeoff between global stability and trade blocs.Dionisius Narjoko asked what will happen if RCEP cannot be concluded by 2015? On ASEAN centrality, how does TPP affect the ASEAN centrality argument? If there is a China-Japan-Korea FTA, one assumption is no longer valid. There is no incentive for ASEAN to further integrate. Chia said that something will conclude but in what form is not known. The geopolitical importance of subgroups needs to be weighed.Jayant Menon suggested that the paper be shortened by dropping TTIP from the comparison. He asked if the TPP will degenerate into a series of bilateral agreements. For example, Malaysia has carve-outs and special deals to appease the public. It is also not known how TPP is changing Japan, but we know how Japan is making TPP less likely to happen. This is related to the United States’ inability to guarantee fast-track implementation. There are many differences between RCEP and TPP. He thinks, for example, that TPP is essentially an intellectual property agreement and RCEP is not.Chia does not believe in ASEAN centrality as this is either given or earned. She agreed with Menon that TPP is degenerating into a series of bilateral agreements. She disagrees with the view that TPP's big difference from RCEP is IP. There are no compromises among countries.Shandre Thangavelu said the political economy side is left out. China was not discussed in any of these elements. TPP is rules-based, which China is trying to avoid. Increasingly, China seems to be interested in TPP. If President Obama cannot carry through, TPP may not go through. How will China come to the table on TPP? The RCEP glue is stronger than that in TPP, which is why political economy plays a bigger role in TPP. He also pointed out that Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam and India are not in APEC and neither is Europe. They could try coming in through the back door.Chia addressed Thangavelu's political levers and said what to include or exclude, and pointed out that China is now more ready to join TPP. Singapore advocates this as China is ready and undertaking reforms; the role of SOEs will be diluted. She agrees that RCEP has stronger political glue. She is doubtful that an Asia Pacific FTA will materialize and wonders why APEC cannot include India.

Revisiting WTO Fisheries Subsidies Negotiations

Fisheries subsidies negotiation was added to the negotiation agenda of the DDA largely by the concern for the depletion of fishery stocks. Some members, in particular, the Friends of Fish group countries, claimed that over-fishing and overcapacity caused by various fisheries subsidies program have resulted in the depletion of fishery stocks. Therefore, they argued that new disciplines should be introduced to address the situation. In 2007, after more than five years of negotiations, the chairman of the Rules Negotiations Group circulated a consolidated text. However, the negotiations have hardly made progress since then. This paper examines whether the Rule Negotiating Group chair’s text is legally and practically appropriate to serve as a basis for the fisheries subsidies negotiations. In order to address the question, this paper presents the brief history of fisheries subsidies negotiations at the WTO. Then, it analyzes critical issues of the Rule Negotiating Group chair’s text. It also explores the consolidated text of the TPP negotiations. Based on the analysis, it concludes that the basic concept and the principle of the chair’s text are inconsistent with those of the ASCM, and that the structure of the text does not conform those of the ASCM and other WTO agreements. Likewise, the TPP text bears similar problems. Therefore, it is highly questionable whether WTO members and TPP parties can actually achieve the goal to conserve fishery resources. WTO members as well as TPP parties should try to address these problems, so that they can make real progress in negotiations.

Instituting Investment Claims Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

This chapter examines that draft Investment Chapter and analyses provisions bearing on the resolution of investor-state disputes arising under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). It also briefly examines the significance of Australia's insistence on an exemption from investor-state arbitration (ISA), and what this means in terms of the institutional differences between ISA and the use of domestic courts to resolve investment disputes. The draft version of the Investment Chapter of the TPPA leaked to the public in June 2012, while undoubtedly authentic, is unlikely to constitute the final version of the investment chapter. This is especially so in light of the need for public consultation and the need to secure agreement from some states that are apparently pushing for amendments to the Chapter. Given the political nature of TPP negotiations, it is difficult to predict the precise form of ISA provisions that the TPP negotiators will finally adopt. Keywords: Australia; draft Investment Chapter; investor-state arbitration (ISA); Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

Vietnam in the TPP Negotiations and Challenges it May Face

It has been almost seven years since Vietnam first experienced its official WTO membership on 2007. At the time of accession, it was envisioned that Vietnam economy would develop rapidly, and the event was hailed as “a turning point” and even “a sacred moment.” Many people in Vietnam said that the country would be “taking off” and becoming “a new Asian tiger”. Then, most enterprises and the Vietnamese feel disappointed with the fact that economic growth has been much lower than expected since Vietnam joined the WTO. There are reasons for such disappointment. First, at that time Vietnamese enterprises did not know or well- prepare for the challenges that lied ahead. Second they were so optimistic about the benefits being received. The history seems to be repeated now when Vietnam are negotiating another important FTA-the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (hereinafter the TPP) – that is considered as an integration as both breadth and depth level of because it is the largest, most dynamic trade collaboration of 21 century. On the Vietnamese media, major benefits of TPP are analyzed and propagated to create public support in order to conclude the TPP as soon as possible. Even a popular economic research approves that Vietnam is the biggest beneficiary among the TPP countries. Unfortunately, like the WTO, the TPP is not a “delicious cake”, and of course, there is no free lunch for Vietnam. To that respect, the paper aims at researching on the major potential challenges of Vietnam when participation in the TPP so that the community, especially the Vietnamese enterprises, are fully aware of both speculative interest and cost in order to have solutions to minimize the challenges and maximize the opportunities. The paper aims at answering two crucial questions: What is the ambition level of the negotiations? Whether Vietnam is ready for such level of ambition on offers in the TPP and what are the main challenges Vietnam may have to face?To answer the questions, this research paper will be divided into two chapters as follows:Chapter I: “Vietnam’s participation in the TPP negotiations and speculative opportunities”. Serving the introductory purposes, this chapter provides readers with the fundamental knowledge on the TPP negotiations and its ambition level in general, and then Vietnam’s participation and the benefits it may receive in an ideal condition in particular. Chapter II: “Challenges Vietnam may face in the TPP”. This is the main part of the paper which introduces and analyzes the potential negative impacts and difficulties of the proposed regulation in the on-going negotiations for the most important sectors and issues in Vietnam. The chapter is presented with the proposed rules for a sector, then I will analyze the challenge caused by such regulation and finally the solution (if any) for such challenge. First the challenges for textile and apparel sector are analyzed, then for agriculture sector, intellectual propriety rights (IPRs), State-Owned Enterprise reform, legal reform, and labor chapter, respectively.