Trans-Pacific Partnership Arrives as World Trade Growth Slows

The Trans-Pacific Partnership took five years and 19 formal rounds of talks to forge. Negotiators met in Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Lima, Melbourne, San Diego, and elsewhere on the Pacific Rim, hammering out nettlesome details on tariffs for everything from meat to auto parts. The result is the biggest regional trade agreement in history. When the TPP’s completion was announced on Oct. 5, it was heralded as a boon to the 12 countries involved, which together account for 40 percent of the global economy. Not only would rich nations such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Japan benefit, so would less-developed partners such as Peru, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

The full effects of the TPP, which has yet to be sold to a dozen legislatures, including the U.S. Congress, may not be felt for years. Japan’s beef tariffs, for one, will drop from 38.5 percent to 9 percent, but over 15 years, to the frustration of U.S. and Australian cattle ranchers. It’s hard to even figure out what the TPP’s impact will be on global trade. “We haven’t done a calculation of this type,” Trevor Kincaid, deputy assistant U.S. trade representative, said in an e-mail.