Australia has completed the six, joining, in order of ratification, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada. The five nations yet to ratify are Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru and Vietnam.
Several other countries including the United States, Britain after Brexit, Colombia, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan have expressed interest.
Of course, US President Donald Trump’s quick exit from the original TPP nearly killed it until Japan came into the fold to take that economy’s place and he has since told his officials to investigate joining.
Given his posturing against free trade and dragging the US towards an isolationist policy we will just have to wait and see what might eventuate there. We would certainly welcome that economy joining in but not at the expense of agreeing to all its terms.
Britain’s announcement of its interest was intriguing given, last time I looked at the atlas, it isn’t that close to the Pacific but it seems its overseas territory, the Pitcairn Islands, allows it to join the club and Japan has said it would welcome Britain’s inclusion.
It has been a fraught and tortuous process for many years to get to this point but our trade negotiators, officials and politicians have persevered and it is finally over the line.
David Parker might seem to have it in for farming but he can’t be faulted as trade and export growth minister in getting this through.
There were enough changes in the new agreement from the previous TPP to mollify many of Labour’s voters who were certain Labour wouldn’t support the trade agreement but the likes of Jane Kelsey and other strident critics were never going to accept that as an exporting nation, free trade agreements benefit everyone in the economy.
What is heartening with our Parliament passing the bill allowing ratification was the sensible cross-party support. All parties except the Greens, demonstrating their naivety and ignorance of how an export led economy functions, supported it.
They should be well pleased when they see the plentiful supply of well-priced mung beans from Vietnam turning up in the health-food shops.
Our economy could benefit anywhere between $1.2 billion and $4b a year.
Of immediate benefit for many readers will be our access to the Japanese beef market where the very high tariffs against us meant we weren’t competitive with Australian beef because of an existing free-trade agreement with Japan.
We will now be on a level playing field, saving us some $63 million a year from a reduction in tariffs, with the ability to place more beef into that market. We will also have quite a competitive advantage over the US beef industry, which will continue to pay the 38.5% tariff.
There will be other advantages having a free trade agreement with Japan, the third largest economy in the world.
The best thing about this deal going live is that with a recent diet of trade wars, increasing protectionism and growing isolationism a group of clever, forward-thinking countries has shown they are prepared to work together in the interests of all.
