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Update 3: Brookings Institution’s Joshua Meltzer provided insights on the deal’s sticking points
Update 2: Comments from Mayor Kasim Reed were added.
Update: The story has been updated below to reflect the U.S. Trade Representative’s office Thursday morning confirming that Atlanta will host the next round of negotiations.
Atlanta starting this weekend will host trade officials from 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership nations for a weeklong series of talks aimed at wrapping up the sweeping trade deal encompassing some 40 percent of the global economy.
Ed Fast, Canada’s trade minister, said Wednesday night on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that he would be in Atlanta this week for talks, seeming to confirm an earlier Reuters report citing a Canadian official pointing to a conclave of trade ministers in Atlanta starting Sept. 26 and lasting through Oct. 2.
The Consulate General of Canada in Atlanta pointed all inquiries to Ottawa, but the U.S. Trade Representative’s office confirmed Thursday that the chief negotiators would meet in Atlanta Sept. 26-29, followed by a ministerial meeting Sept. 30-Oct. 1.
Some speculated that a gathering of high-level officials could indicate that the deal is nearing completion after July talks in Hawaii stalled over a variety of issues.
“I don’t think that they would be calling this meeting if they didn’t think they could reach a final agreement,” said Joshua Meltzer, a Brookings Institution fellow on the global economy. But significant compromises remain over market access for dairy products, periods of protection for drug data and rules of origin for auto parts, among other issues, Mr. Meltzer said.
Rules of origin determine what percentage of content must be produced within TPP countries to qualify for duty-free status. To fend off Asian competitors for U.S. market share, Mexico and Canada would like to see the threshold stick at around 62 percent as outlined by Nafta. Japan wants it lowered to around 40 percent.
The TPP is one of two huge trade deals under negotiation by the Obama administration, which says it will open Asian markets like Vietnam, Japan and Malaysia to U.S. exports and help shape the future of trade regulations in a region where China (not a TPP partner) is continuing to assert its economic influence. (The Atlanta summit would coincide with a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington.)
Mayor Kasim Reed welcomed the announcement that trade ministers would descend on Atlanta.
“No one sees the positive impacts of increased exports more clearly than cities. Atlanta has grown our economy by looking abroad to new international markets. We know that companies that export grow faster, pay higher wages, and are less likely to go out of business than companies that rely solely on the domestic market. Already more than 150,000 jobs are supported by export and import activity in the metropolitan area,” the mayor said in a statement that underscored his support for the “high standards” Mr. Obama’s trade team says the agreement will enforce in a range of areas.
TPP opponents say the deal lacks transparency and would ship more jobs overseas while benefiting big business in industries from pharmaceuticals to agriculture and auto. Major sticking points range from Canadian dairy producers seeking greater protections to disagreements even among Nafta partners Canada, Mexico and the U.S. about local-content rules for automotive manufacturing, which have been a point of contention for Japan.
In June, Congress granted Mr. Obama so-called “fast-track authority,” which allows the president to present trade deals to Congress for a 60-day review and a simple up or down vote. The measure was seen as a prerequisite to finishing out negotiations with the 11 other TPP partners and could pave the way for a similar deal with the EU.
Labor and opposition groups have already taken to social media to begin organizing protests in Atlanta.
Read USTR’s latest release on TPP negotiations after the Hawaii ministerial.