Trade officials sign landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership

Trade officials representing the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations joined in signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement Feb. 3, 2016, according to a press release from the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA).

In what has been called “the largest regional trade accord in history,” Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Peru, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam joined the U.S. in agreeing to the TPP.

The release said that “The TPP will work to support made-in-America exports, enforce labor rights, promote strong environmental protection and help American small businesses benefit from trade.”

The press release noted that the agreement outlines the following:

• The TPP eliminates or reduces tariff and non-tariff barriers across substantially all trade in goods and services and covers the full spectrum of trade, including goods and services trade and investment, so as to create new opportunities and benefits for our businesses, workers, and consumers.
• TPP parties agree to eliminate and reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers on industrial goods, and to eliminate or reduce tariffs and other restrictive policies on agricultural goods.
• TPP parties have agreed on rules to enhance the facilitation of trade, improve transparency in customs procedures, and ensure integrity in customs administration.
• TPP parties have agreed on transparent, non-discriminatory rules for developing technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures, while preserving TPP Parties’ ability to fulfill legitimate objectives.
• TPP parties agree to provide strong enforcement systems, including, for example, civil procedures, provisional measures, border measures, and criminal procedures and penalties for commercial-scale trademark counterfeiting and copyright or related rights piracy.
• TPP parties agree to sustainable fisheries management, to promote conservation of important marine species, including sharks, to combat illegal fishing, and to prohibit some of the most harmful fisheries subsidies that negatively affect overfished fish stocks, and that support illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing.

The NMMA listed the following as benefits for the boating industry:

• Reduced tariff schedule for a wide range of consumer products.
• Better access to markets.
• Reduction in technical barriers to trade including addressing issues such as accreditation procedures.
• Improves regulatory coherence and good regulatory practices among involved countries.