The Pike Law Firm, P.C.
February 9, 2016
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The Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP”) is a trade
agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries
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The TPP agreement
was finalized last
October and was
confirmed in a formal
signing ceremony on
February 4, 2016
in New Zealand
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Singapore
Brunei
New Zealand
Chile
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United States
Australia
Peru
Vietnam
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Malaysia
Mexico
Canada
Japan
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According to the Office of the United States
Trade Representative, TPP focuses on five areas
to create new opportunities in global trade:
◦ Comprehensive market access
◦ Regional approach to commitments
◦ Addressing new trade challenges
◦ Inclusive trade
◦ Platform for regional integration
 One
of the main features of TPP is the
elimination or reduction of tariffs and
non-tariff barriers for member countries
across nearly all trade

TPP aims to facilitate the development of
production and supply chains, and
seamless trade, enhancing efficiency and
supporting the goal of creating and
supporting jobs, raising living standards,
enhancing conservation efforts, and
facilitating cross-border integration, as
well as opening domestic markets
 TPP
seeks to promote innovation,
productivity, and competitiveness
by addressing new issues, including
the development of the digital
economy, and the role of stateowned enterprises in the global
economy
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TPP includes commitments to help
small- and medium-sized businesses
understand the agreement, take
advantage of its opportunities, and bring
problems to the attention of the TPP
governments
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It also includes specific commitments on
development and trade capacity building
 Finally,
TPP is intended as a
platform for regional economic
integration and is designed to
include additional
economies across
the Asia-Pacific
region
 TPP
consists of 30 chapters covering
many trade-related issues, including:
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Trade in goods
Customs and trade facilitation
Sanitary and phytosanitary
measures
Technical barriers to trade
Trade remedies
Investment
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Services
Electronic commerce
Government procurement
Intellectual property
Labor
Environment
Dispute settlement
Trade-Related Highlights
 As
many TPP parties have existing
free trade agreements with one
another, TPP specifically recognizes
that it can coexist with existing
international agreements, including
the WTO Agreement, bilateral
agreements, and regional agreements
(such as NAFTA)
 In
order to increase trade among TPP
member countries, TPP eliminates and
reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers on
industrial goods
 TPP
also eliminates or reduces tariffs
and other restrictive policies on
agricultural goods

Most tariff elimination for industrial
goods will be implemented immediately,
but tariffs for some products will be
eliminated over longer timeframes

For agricultural goods, the parties
agree to promote policy reforms such as
eliminating agriculture export subsidies
 TPP
also eliminates tariffs on
textiles and apparel
 Most
of these tariffs will be
eliminated immediately, but some
will be eliminated over longer
timeframes
 TPP
contains product-specific rules
of origin
 TPP
provides for “accumulation,” so
that in general, materials from one
TPP party are treated the same as
materials from any other TPP party
 TPP
allows parties to apply for a
transitional safeguard measure if
import increases resulting from tariff
reductions cause serious injury to a
domestic industry
 TPP
prohibits the imposition of
customs duties on electronic
transmissions and prevents parties
from favoring national producers
through discriminatory measures
or outright blocking of data
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TPP will not come into effect until a
requisite number of original signatories
ratify the deal

In the U.S., the formal signing of TPP on
February 4 triggered the process of
drafting and considering a bill in Congress
to implement the agreement, which will
also serve as U.S. ratification of the deal
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The Obama Administration has expressed its
desire to see Congress pass a TPP bill in
2016, but that outcome is uncertain given
the highly partisan
environment in
Washington, which is
further heightened in
this Presidential
election year
The Pike Law Firm, P.C.
246 Sycamore Street
Suite 215
Decatur, GA 30030-3434
(404) 529-8000
Damon V. Pike, President
damon@thepikelawfirm.com
Trevor E. Brice, Associate
trevor@thepikelawfirm.com