The text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership was released Thursday, offering the first detailed look at the world’s biggest free trade deal, the most ambitious effort in years to rip down barriers to commerce. New Zealand, which has signed on to the deal, put the contents of the agreement on its website, saying it would ‘continue to undergo legal review’. Many activists blasted the fact that the 12-nation agreement was negotiated in intense secrecy, while critics also noted that signatory governments were being forced to approve the unmodifiable deal in an all-or-nothing vote. The accord must be signed and ratified by the respective countries and many may face uphill battles, not least in the United States as it tries to convince a sceptical Congress. Australia’s Trade and Investment minister Andrew Robb welcomed the text, stressing that at the end of the negotiations TPP members had agreed to release details as soon as possible. Analysts and activists, however, are sure to pore over the voluminous document, eager to sift through its 30 chapters. Deborah Elms, executive director of the Singapore-based Asian Trade Centre, said that the text will explain a lot, though its huge size and legalese means the process will be daunting. ‘No more dealing in half-truths, speculative guesses, or calculated leaks about what is — and what is not — inside this agreement,’ she said in an email. ‘It will take time and effort for individuals and companies to understand the implications of this agreement overall and for any given sector or industry.’ Delegates from the dozen Pacific Rim nations finally managed to hammer out the agreement in the United States last month — five years after the Washington-led talks first began. Spanning about 40 per cent of the global economy, the hard-won deal aims to set the rules for 21st century trade and investment and press non-member China to shape its behaviour in commerce, investment and business regulation to TPP standards. Under the deal, most tariffs were to be eliminated or slashed on everything from beef, dairy products, wine, sugar, rice, horticulture and seafood through to manufactured products, resources and energy. The release of the text is a ‘landmark development’ but there could be plenty of fights ahead as some member governments face a backlash at home over its details, observers said. ‘In some ways I think the release of the text will merely confirm a lot of the existing opposition’ to the agreement, said Matthew Rimmer, an intellectual property law professor at Australia’s Queensland University of Technology. ‘But you know the governments that supported the deal will have to push for its acceptance. So there will be a lot of interesting politics in terms of how that plays out.’ The TPP consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. The US and Japan were the two biggest economies involved but the two sides long appeared unable to find common ground on key issues, including auto sector access and Japan’s huge agricultural tariffs. The deal has run up against heavy resistance from some farming groups, particularly in Japan, who worried that it would leave them unable to compete against cheaper foreign rivals. In Ottawa, tractor-driving dairy farmers with a handful of cows blocked roads to Canada’s parliament to protest the possible opening up of the country’s milk market to imports under the TPP. It also addresses new issues like data trade and intellectual property that have not been covered in multilateral trade pacts of the past. The TPP establishes mechanisms to handle disputes between foreign investors and governments, but opponents say it puts commercial interests ahead of public policy.
