Coming Year Likely Last Hope for TPP Agreement, Says Singaporean PM
The coming months represent the "last chance" to close Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations because the U.S. presidential election in 2016 is likely to prevent any real progress, said Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in recent days. The U.S. will be…
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“giving the game away” to China if the Obama administration doesn’t pressure the end of negotiations, he said at the Singapore Summit on Sept. 20, while adding that China right now is the largest trader with Singapore, Japan, South Korea and many other Pacific countries. A TPP deal is critical to the U.S. presence in the region, said Hsien Loong, arguing that a military pivot to Asian isn’t enough. The inability for the U.S. to close a deal “does not make sense, but congressmen have different calculations and you have to make this sense percolate through and register with them,” said Hsien Loong. “And maybe after the mid-term elections, you’ll have a window to do that because after you negotiate the agreement, it has to be ratified and in America that cannot be taken for granted.” Trade ministers from Australia and New Zealand have recently said that talks will not be wrapped up in 2014, despite President Barack Obama’s November target (see 14091028).