Australia hosted the eleventh round of TPP negotiations in Melbourne from 1-9 March 2012. The round was the first full round involving all negotiating groups since the TPP Leaders met in Honolulu in mid-November last year. In Honolulu, the Leaders announced that agreement had been reached on the broad outlines of an ambitious and comprehensive agreement, and directed negotiators to redouble their efforts to conclude the agreement.

On December 23^More

Since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round the development of international trade rules has drifted from global to regional and bilateral agreements. The United States has not participated actively in this shift and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), now in negotiation, could become its first significant regional agreement since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The TPP is also a possible pathway to the larger Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (Agreement) entered into force on March 15, 2012. One of the Agreement’s principal benefits is reduced duties on originating goods traded between the United States and the Republic of Korea (Korea). Companies should not, however, assume that all goods made in the United States or Korea qualify as originating goods. The Agreement contains rules of origin—reproduced in General Note 33 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States—that dictate when goods may be certified as originating.

The complete labor proposal tabled by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations late last month has aroused the ire of congressional Republicans, who object to the fact that it goes beyond the labor provisions included in the so-called May 10, 2007, template.The proposal, which remains confidential, does not alter the fundamental standards contained in the May 10 template, according to informed sources.

Vietnam is negotiating a Trans-Pacific free trade agreement (TPFTA) with the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia. We, the undersigned, declare our opposition to the Trans-Pacific FTA as it puts the profits of multinational pharmaceutical companies ahead of the people’s right to health.

  Issue Leaked U.S. TPPA Proposal (10 February 2011) Vietnamese Law On Intellectual Property 50/2005 Analysis