AmCham welcomes Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement

AmCham welcomes Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement

The American Chamber of Commerce welcomes the successful conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, as announced by Trade Minister Tim Groser and his TPP counterparts earlier today in Atlanta.

AmCham Executive Director Mike Hearn said "the TPP deal is a positive start to removing trade barriers with an important group of economies that New Zealand hasn't had FTA's with - the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Peru. TPP nations represent 40% of world GDP. The US is already New Zealand's third largest trading partner with bilateral trade valued at over $11 billion annually.

This will have been a hard deal to conclude with all the competing interests and compromises will have been required by all parties. While we have not seen the detail of the agreement we understand there will be benefits for NZ exporters from tariff and quotas reductions for beef, dairy, wine, manufactured goods traded with the USA".

According to Trade Minister Grosser "The most significant change is an extension of New Zealand's copyright period from 50 years to 70 years. The cost of this to consumers and businesses will be small to begin with and increases gradually over a 20-year period. Consumers will not pay more for subsidised medicines as a result of TPP and few additional costs are expected for the Government in the area of pharmaceuticals. There will also be no change to the PHARMAC model. Regarding data protection for biologic medicines, New Zealand's existing policy settings and practices will be adequate to meet the provisions we have finally agreed on. TPP also contains a provision that allows the Government to rule out ISDS challenges over tobacco control measures"

AmCham will be working with our members to analyse and debate the agreement followed by working with both the US and NZ Governments on ratification process. www.amcham.co.nz

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