Ambassador Kirk met with Australian Minister for Trade Dr. Craig Emerson on Tuesday. This was his first meeting with Minister Emerson, who was appointed to trade minister earlier this month, and Ambassador Kirk was pleased to welcome Dr. Emerson to the United States.
Ambassador Kirk and Minister Emerson discussed issues facing the next round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be held in Brunei next month. The TPP is a vehicle for Asia-Pacific-wide economic integration, which will strengthen U.S. ties to the robust economies of this region. The goal is to expand the membership in successive clusters to include countries across the region, which represents more than half of global output and over 40 percent of world trade. The current TPP negotiating partners include the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The Ambassador and Minister also talked about the WTO Doha Development Round talks and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations.
The United States’ goods and services trade with Australia totaled $51 billion in 2008, and U.S. goods exports last year were up 37.8 percent from before our bilateral FTA was signed in 2005.
Ambassador Kirk and Minister Emerson
