Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations are shifting to the spotlight, with U.S. trade representative Michael Froman signalling the Americans want the talks wrapped up in the next two months.
Twelve countries, including Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, are involved in trade discussions which, if finalized, would open access to several lucrative Asian–Pacific markets, including Japan and Vietnam.
Sources close to the negotiations say talks have shifted to addressing various trade sensitive areas, including agriculture.
As a result, those involved in the file say officials with Agriculture Canada have reached out to agriculture stakeholders to ask for more detailed input.
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Canada has already come under fire from New Zealand and the United States for refusing to make market access offers in the negotiations, particularly when it comes to the industries protected under supply management.
New Zealand and the U.S. blocked Canada’s initial application to join the TPP talks in 2010 because of concerns about Canadian supply management, particularly in the dairy industry.
The country eventually took a seat at the negotiating table in 2012 following domestic consultations with the nine other members, but supply management has repeatedly emerged as a potential hurdle in the TPP discussions.
Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz has repeatedly said Canada won’t be bullied into agriculture concessions, all while insisting supply management is not “the issue” at the TPP table.
This, despite recent warnings from U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack in December, when he criticized “our Canadian friends” for not stepping up “as much as they ought to have.”
Several agriculture stakeholders say they have been warned by American negotiators as recently as before Christmas that Canada could be asked to leave the negotiations if concessions aren’t made soon.
In a year-end interview with iPolitics, Ritz brushed aside Vilsack’s comments, saying supply management is an issue “the Americans like to throw up because they have nothing else.”
“We’ll take the advice, but we’ll take it from where it came from,” he said.
Ritz said if the Americans really want serious conversation, they should be willing to concede on sensitive files of their own, such as sugar, cotton and rice.
All three commodities are heavily subsidized and have tied up trade negotiations in the past.
Word of the heightened TPP talks comes as all eyes turn to Washington, D.C, for president Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address Jan. 20, where sources say the president could commit to securing the ever-elusive fast-track authority.
Obama has faced heavy criticism, including reprimands from Ritz and former prime minister Brian Mulroney, for failing to secure fast-track authority, which has been deemed critical to TPP’s success. Mulroney told the Grow Canada conference in early December that a trade deal can’t happen without it.
Fast-track authority allows Congress to put free trade agreements to a simple yes or no vote, eliminating the possibility of amendments once the final deal has been negotiated.
However, securing it hasn’t been easy. Past efforts have been thwarted by several high profile Democrats, including House leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry Reid, both of whom have insisted fast-track authority is undemocratic.
Their opposition has made fast-track authority a contentious issue in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
However, Republicans now hold control of both the House and the Senate, which sources say has put the president under increased pressure to get fast-track authority for the TPP.
A recent report by Inside Trade said the White House has launched a “whip-effort” to try and secure Democratic votes in favour of fast-track authority, with the Republicans expected to table a bill seeking fast-track authority sometime in the next few months.
TPP chief negotiators are set to meet in the United States in January for another round of negotiations, while a ministerial round is expected sometime in February. The location of that meeting has not been disclosed.
