TPP: a breakthrough, yes - but still far from a done deal

IN A DRAMATIC, last-minute breakthrough, trade ministers from a dozen countries in the Americas and Asia Pacific reached a deal on Monday to secure a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. Should it be ratified by domestic legislatures, the landmark deal will represent the biggest regional free-trade agreement (FTA) in history, and be the largest trade deal struck since the 1994 completion of the Uruguay Round which created the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The deal is important not just because the 12 countries (the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam) encompass around 40 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP); in addition, the TPP has an important rules-setting component and US President Bar…