On Wednesday, the final variant of a landmark agreement reached with the aim of removing trade barriers in some of the Asia-Pacific’s rapidly- soaring economies finally showed up, indicating the agreement turned to be a step closer to the real situation even without its major participants – the United States.
Over 20 provisions have turned to be suspended or altered in the final revision ahead of the pact’s official signing in March, with regulations as for intellectual property originally included on the initiative of the United States.
The authentic 12-member agreement was rejected early in 2017, when Donald Trump dared to withdraw from the pact just to protect American jobs.
As for the 11 remaining participants, led by Japan, they had an updated trade pact finalized in January. That version was known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. It’s highly anticipated to be finally signed on March 8 in Chile.
The deal is expected to have tariffs cut in economies, which together amount to over 13% of the global GDP, which accounts for $10 trillion. As for the US share, it will represent up to 40%.
The radical changes with TPP 11 include the suspension of many provisions of the pact. Most of the most controversial ones have been suspended by the participants. It especially applies to pharmaceuticals.
Apparently, many of these changes had taken place in the authentic TPP 12 reacting to the demand of American negotiators. Changes touched such a crucial nuance as intellectual property protection. It was ramped up, although some activists along with governments were afraid the move would drastically step up the costs of medicine.
Evidently, the success of the agreement has been promoted by officials in Japan as well as other participants as a protective measure against soaring American protectionism.
