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Key, Obama to make TPP push

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Key, Obama to make TPP push

3News NZ

Key meets Obama as they arrive for the gala dinner together with other head of states in Phnom Penh (Reuters)

Key meets Obama as they arrive for the gala dinner together with other head of states in Phnom Penh (Reuters)

By Laura McQuillan

Prime Minister John Key will team up with United States President Barack Obama in Cambodia on Tuesday morning in a push to seal a major trade deal with Asian leaders.

The pair are attending the East Asia Summit alongside government heads from Russia, Australia, China, Cambodia and Japan, and many attendees will take part in a 90-minute meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, which is Mr Key's prime focus during the visit.

The meeting, which is taking place without non-Asian member countries - Mexico, Canada, Chile and Peru - will see Mr Obama launch discussions with the United States' vision for the deal, with intellectual property regulation a major sticking point.

Mr Key will raise New Zealand's key issue in the deal - agriculture exports - which faces strong opposition from Japan, amid its farmers' vocal concerns over dropping protectionism.

Mr Key remains hopeful TPP negotiations can be concluded in 2013, with a fifteenth round of talks set to take place in New Zealand next month.

"These things are always complex - there's a lot of partners, there's a lot of moving parts and it will take some political goodwill on the part of all of the partners, but it's an exciting opportunity and one that we should push hard," he said.

Mr Key will also meet the leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations, as well as Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and India, later on Tuesday to launch a second separate trade concept, the Regional Comprehension Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The proposed agreement could be even bigger than the TPP, which has an estimated $2 billion benefit for New Zealand.

Mr Key is in good spirits about the new deal after a positive meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Xiabao on Monday night.

"It's not often that you sit down with a leader of a country who has 1.4 billion citizens and he says to you 'sell us more goods'," Mr Key said.

"(He is) actively encouraging us to sell more dairy products, more wood products, educate more Chinese students."

The summit wraps up on Tuesday afternoon.

NZN

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Comments

26/11/2012 10:22:58 a.m.

john wrote:

jobs are moving off shore.

21/11/2012 8:37:00 a.m.

katubaldy wrote:

Wow what are they snorting at JPMorganChase? Kind of incoherent rant about defending against the invasion?? Whoa! Better go out in the backyard and check on my tradeable resources, brush up on contractual law, (on a global scale of course) and arm the family to the teeth.....that's way out past left field and heading for the fans in the cheap seats....

21/11/2012 7:29:04 a.m.

Chargone wrote:

take a look at the intellectual property sections of the TPP if you can find it. that's not free trade at ALL. it's blatant enforced protectionism of monopolies, mostly US monopolies. then there's the stuff where some international court trumps national laws on corporate behaviour. a court you just Know will not be in any way under NZ control. the TPP is another one of these back-room bullshit deals where NO ONE is allowed to see the text. 'stake holders' are supposedly consulted... by which they mean major corporations. mostly US based. ... random upper management in various corporations has greater access than US members of congress on this stuff! who knows who has access to it in our government, and, given the usual pattern, how much they have or haven't actually READ of the damn thing. whole thing should have been abandoned as having any hope of coming out well the moment the US got involved. it was all down hill from there. (also: somehow canada and mexico have signed up for the thing but... aren't allowed to know the text or participate in teh next couple of rounds of negotiations? what teh hell?)

20/11/2012 6:40:31 p.m.

Kathy wrote:

Dan, a free trade agreement will hold significant benefits, and detriments to the New Zealand economy. Overall though the agreement will be quite dangerous to our economy and align us with falls in international markets. Small falls in economic activity for our major trading partners would have a much bigger impact on our small economy. It also signals the destruction of some of our markets like the pork industry which will now be subjected to the pig disease that runs rampant in a lot of our trading partners stocks.

20/11/2012 6:20:39 p.m.

Kim wrote:

Am i the only one concerned about what Key agreed too that gave him that position near Obama?

20/11/2012 5:44:27 p.m.

sam wrote:

My sentiments exactly @ media... this is the very same agreeement which is negotiated in secret behind closed doors.. that the public will not have access to for another 4 years....why the need for all the secrecy?.. is this because, like America, we too will be purchasing food products from Japan ?... or perhaps GM products?... will we be under the same laws as America ?... I think it will take more of our freedoms away.

20/11/2012 4:20:31 p.m.

Chris wrote:

This is one thing key is really good at, And is something this country needs desperately. Whether we like it or not we're highly dependent on other countries to buy our stuff. Getting into america's good books is a great step aswell. We kinda need them lol

20/11/2012 1:51:02 p.m.

JPMorganChase wrote:

If the political leaders that we have entrusted to make such impoverishing decisions for our children are to be trusted. It is clear that all decisions soforth need to be that of the physical defence of our tradeable resources. Defence spending must be increased. It is wise to remember the rules of contractual law on a global scale is not that of eviction on failure to meet an obligation but invasion.

20/11/2012 11:26:39 a.m.

Dan wrote:

This is certainly very interesting because we don't know if it is going to have any significant benefit to New Zealand. One would think that agreements would be sign with a bit more than just a hunch. However, the continued bonding between New Zealand and the US is endearing, even if they do treat us as a poor cousin and lambast our stance on nuclear power.

20/11/2012 10:51:54 a.m.

jay wrote:

My god just compare them, Obama looks hot.