USTR Expects Serious Exchange On SOEs At Dallas TPP Round: Sources

摘要

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative expects next month's negotiating round in Dallas for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to include the first serious, in-depth bargaining over the U.S.-proposed legal text on how the regional trade pact will treat state-owned enterprises (SOEs), according to industry lobbyists and lawyers following the issue. "Certainly listening to USTR and other TPP countries, I get the sense everyone is going to come to Dallas with an intention of making serious progress," said Shaun Donnelly, vice president for investment and financial services at the U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB) on April 25. "I would anticipate serious discussions in the SOE area; the other countries have now had our SOE text for a while." The U.S. tabled its SOE text last fall. It is likely there will be "real engagement" on the SOE legal text tabled by the U.S. when negotiators reconvene the talks in Dallas on May 8, agreed Alan Wolff, a partner at the law firm Dewey & Leboeuf. While no other TPP country is likely to table its own comprehensive textual proposal on SOEs to compete with the U.S. text, it is possible that other negotiating partners will put forward "pieces of text or ideas" that reflect "specific concerns" they have with aspects of the U.S. proposal, he added.