Eleven countries including Australia have signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP-11) today, a move that has been welcomed by the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA).
The TPP was signed in Santiago, Chile today and Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said the new deal will bring a boost to the Australian economy and businesses.
“Today’s signing of the TPP-11 delivers extra outcomes for Australian exporters that will help create new Australian jobs,” Ciobo said.
“The agreement will eliminate more than 98 per cent of tariffs in a trade zone with a GDP of $13.7 trillion that spans the Americas and Asia.
“As tariffs tumble, the TPP-11 will drive demand for Australia goods and services, helping create new Australian jobs.”
The WFA Chief Executive, Tony Battaglene also welcomed the deal, saying it is great news for Australia’s win exporters.
“The Australian Government has shown strong leadership in continuing to peruse TPP-11 after the US withdrew, and there will be great benefits for Australian wine producers as a result,” Battaglene said.
“TPP-11 offers tremendous opportunities for our sector through a range of tariff reductions as well as addressing non-tariff barriers.
“Most importantly, this agreement is the first of its kind to specifically address wine-related technical barriers to trade through the inclusion of a wine and spirit annex.
“For wine, it’s often the non-tariff barriers which present more of a cost in emerging export markets. The wine annex is a means of addressing those barriers and something we have and will continue to push strongly in all Australian trade negotiations.
“The TPP-11 must now be ratified by the majority of member countries before entering into force. WFA will be advocating for the Australian ratification process to be completed as smoothly and as quickly as possible so our wine industry can begin take advantage of the opportunity now before us.”
The new deal has been re-negotiated after the United States withdrew from the original TPP and as well as Australia, the other signatory countries are: Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam.