US, Japan and 10 Countries Strike Pacific Trade Deal

Twelve nations reached agreement on a huge free-trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership which covers labor conditions, environment protections, investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms, intellectual property and packaging laws. The partnership is expected to cover 40 percent of world trade and is described as a success for US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for strengthen their positions in the Asia-Pacific region vis-à-vis China. Each country must take steps to ratify the pact, despite widespread criticism that negotiations on details and products like butter and car parts were made behind closed doors to avoid protests from special interests. Some analysts criticize the agreement’s investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms for providing relatively more power to corporations and less to national governments. Despite these criticisms, TPP may spur global integration of trade, accelerating other trade agreements in Asia and Europe, and “herald the beginning of a new era of trade liberalisation globally.” – YaleGlobal