TPP Negotiaton Round in Peru Completed, Next Round Scheduled for Malaysia, July 15-25

The Office of the United States Trade Representative reports that at the 17th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership ("TPP"), a 10-day round that ended last Friday, the United States and the other TPP countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam – discussed plans for smoothly integrating Japan into the TPP negotiations. Japan will join the negotiations following the successful completion of current members’ respective domestic processes. With Japan’s entry, TPP countries will account for nearly 40 percent of global GDP and about one-third of all world trade.

On May 19th, the TPP negotiations were temporarily suspended so negotiators could meet with the 300 stakeholders from the United States and other TPP countries. Stakeholders presented views to negotiators on a wide range of issues under discussion in the TPP, and met informally with U.S. and other negotiators to provide further input to them. Barbara Weisel, U.S. chief TPP negotiator, and the chief negotiators from the other 10 countries also briefed stakeholders on the status of the negotiations and responded to their questions on specific issues and the process going forward.

The 18th round of TPP negotiations will be held in Malaysia from July 15th-25th.