ECIPE Conference: The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Quest for a 21st Century Trade Agreement
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, now being negotiated between 11 states including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam, is supposed to solve many of the problems that have come from overlapping trade deals in the past decade. It is also supposed to be different—“a high quality, 21st century” agreement that will set standards for future trade agreements.
This means that it goes beyond simply addressing trade in goods and services, but includes investment or competition policy, aims to create new rules for intellectual property rights and standards, as well as bring whole new areas into a binding dispute settlement system like environmental protection or labor rights. Such provisions are controversial even among the member states. These new elements may also bring the TPP into conflict with existing trade arrangements in many parts of the world.
This seminar examines different aspects of the TPP negotiations, with particular focus on market access for goods and services. We will also look at how the TPP fits with regional trade efforts underway in Latin America and in Europe.
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