The 10th round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations are currently taking place in Kuala Lumpur. Negotiators from the nine TPP member countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam – traveled to Malaysia over the weekend to continue their work intended to create an agreement that tackles conventional trade concerns in new ways, deals with cross-cutting issues not previously addressed in trade agreements, and tackles emerging trade challenges. This agreement will benefit from an unprecedented level of input throughout the process from stakeholders with a wide array of views on the full range of issues under negotiation.
Over the course of this week, negotiators will meet on the following issues: cross-border trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights, and rules of origin. Negotiators will also meet bilaterally on market access issues.
On November 12, 2011, the Leaders of the nine TPP countries announced the achievement of the broad outlines of an ambitious, 21st-century agreement that will enhance trade and investment among the TPP partner countries, promote innovation, economic growth and development, and support the creation and retention of jobs. In 2009, the East-West Center estimated that Asia already accounted for 27 percent of total U.S. jobs from exports. The International Monetary Fund also forecasts that the Asia-Pacific economies will grow faster than the world average through at least 2014. Expanding U.S. exports to the Asia-Pacific region can contribute significantly to further job growth and economic recovery for America’s working families.
