MALAYSIA – The United States and its TPP partners – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam – concluded the tenth round of negotiations today in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today, making additional strides on the path toward conclusion of a comprehensive, next-generation trade agreement. Through this agreement, the United States is seeking to boost U.S. economic growth and support the creation and retention of high-quality jobs by increasing American exports to a region that holds great potential for U.S. workers, manufacturers, farmers, and ranchers.
The nine teams convened in Malaysia following the successful meeting of TPP Leaders in Honolulu in mid-November, at which they announced the achievement of the broad outlines of an agreement and directed negotiators to redouble their efforts to conclude the agreement. Only selected negotiating groups met this week for the mini-round, including rules of origin, services, investment, and intellectual property. Some teams negotiating the tariff packages on industrial goods, agricultural and textiles also met bilaterally. All made further progress in narrowing gaps on issues in the legal texts and market access packages they are seeking to develop.
In addition, chief negotiators met to discuss a roadmap ahead for concluding the agreement expeditiously, as discussed by their Leaders. They are developing detailed plans for concluding work in each of the more than 20 negotiating groups, including goalposts for progress, intersessional activities, and other steps as needed. The environment group will meet in late January; other negotiating groups are considering additional dates in the coming months. The United States will meet bilaterally in the next two months with some TPP partners to make further progress on the legal texts and tariff packages ahead of the next full negotiating round in early March in Australia.
