Trans-Pacific Partnership: first results, summary of negotiations, prospects

Abstract

The article is devoted to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - unprecedented mega-regional trade agreement. This new agreement has been concluded between 12 Asia-Pacific Region countries that account for nearly 40% of global GDP. The initiators of TPP proclaim it «a high-quality 21-st-century partnership» which will represent a new model for all future preferential trade agreements in the world. Specific features of this «deep» integration agreement are described. The analysis of political statements of TPP leaders and policy documents suggests that the partnership will not only cover market access provisions for goods but also numerous challenging issues in international trade, e.g. agricultural goods, textile goods, rules of origin, trade in services, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, telecommunication technologies, e-commerce, trade remedies, intellectual property rights, competition, capacity building, development goals, labour rights and environmental standards. Main features of U.S. negotiation trade agenda for preferential trade agreements are highlighted. The American approach to negotiating trade agreements is based both on eliminating barriers to trade in goods and services and on designing new binding rules which seek to reform and improve national regulatory practices in order to protect foreign investors from unfair competition from local companies.