'Level playing field': U.S., Asian-Pacific nations approve TPP pact

World

‘Level playing field’: U.S., Asian-Pacific nations approve TPP pact

Pacific trade ministers have reached a deal on the most sweeping trade liberalization pact in a generation that will cut trade barriers and set common standards for 12 countries. Leaders from a dozen Pacific Rim nations are poised to announce the pact later on Monday. The deal could reshape industries and influence everything from the price of cheese to the cost of cancer treatments. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would affect 40 percent of the world economy and would stand as a legacy-defining achievement for U.S. President Barack Obama, if it is ratified by Congress.

The final round of negotiations in Atlanta, which began on Wednesday, had snared on the question of how long a monopoly period should be allowed on next-generation biotech drugs, until the United States and Australia negotiated a compromise. Negotiating teams had been deadlocked over the question of the minimum period of protection to the rights for data used to make biologic drugs, made by companies including Pfizer Inc., Roche Group’s Genentech and Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. The countries agreed on a two-track process would effectively grant biologic drugs a minimum protection period of 5 years and up to a minimum of 8 years.