US hopeful of a major Trans-Pacific trade deal

WASHINGTON, Mar 15 (PTI): The United States Monday hoped that some of the key elements of an ambitious Trans-Pacific trade deal would be in place before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November. "We hope to develop a number of the core elements of a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement by the time of the meeting in Honolulu and this will be an opportunity both to focus on those discussions as well as the broader APEC discussions," Deputy US National Security Adviser Michael Froman told reporters. Briefing reporters on the last week's gathering of senior officials from the 21 APEC economies in Washington, Froman said nine of the APEC economies are currently involved in the TPP discussions. There are a series of meetings going on and negotiating rounds going on, he added. Froman said the work of the APEC and the TPP are complementary and reinforcing. "APEC economies are engaged in a series of trade-liberalising activities, all directed toward trying to build a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific, and we see TPP as being an important contribution to that effort as well," he said. "There is some overlap between the issues that we're talking about in TPP and the issues we're talking about in APEC and the non-TPP members are welcome the chance to discuss how to define the next-generation trade issues that could affect both tracks of discussions. "So they're really quite complementary and reinforcing, and again, all contribute to the concept and the idea of freer trade throughout the region," he noted.