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 U.S. officials, who are hosting the meeting, delayed a planned
joint news conference until early Monday.
That pushed a resolution of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)
talks beyond the deadline set by Japan's economy minister Akira
Amari. On Saturday, Amari had said the next 24 hours would be a
make-or-break period for the talks.
After five years of negotiations, many officials had described this
round as the best chance for an agreement, so failure to strike a
deal in Atlanta would plunge the future of the talks into
uncertainty.
Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the delay on Sunday came
as other TPP partners reviewed the proposed terms of a compromise on
the monopoly period available for drug companies that develop new
drugs known as biologics.
New Zealand negotiators also pressed on Sunday for greater access to
overseas markets for its dairy exports, people involved in the talks
said. "The thing that's missing is (an agreement) on dairy market
access," one official said.
 The sudden stall in the pace of talks came after organizers had set
up a platform in the conference center decorated with flags of the
TPP delegations for the announcement of a deal. By Sunday night, a
U.S. government website that had been scheduled to livestream the
ministerial news conference was carrying a banner saying "delayed
pending further notice".
On Sunday morning, Amari said he had called Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe to notify him that a deal was within sight.
The TPP would lower tariffs and set common standards for 12
countries that represent a combined 40 percent of the global
economy.
U.S. President Barack Obama has pushed for a deal as a way to open
markets to U.S. exports, including financial services and
pharmaceuticals. U.S. officials have also promoted the deal as a
counterweight to China.
PHARMA BREAKTHROUGH
The issue of protections for new biologic medicines like Genentech's
Avastin cancer therapy has pitted the United States against
Australia and five other countries.
The United States has pushed for longer monopoly protections for
pharmaceutical companies to encourage innovation. Australia has
countered that such measures would strain national healthcare
budgets and keep life-saving medicines from patients who cannot
afford them.
The United States provides 12 years of exclusivity for biologic
drugs. Australia has insisted on five years of protection to control
healthcare costs.
A two-track compromise hammered out by Australia and the United
States would set a minimum threshold of five years during which drug
makers would have exclusive rights to clinical data behind new drugs
while adding an additional protection of several more years as
applications for competing drugs are reviewed, people involved said.
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Under a second track, pharmaceutical companies would have eight
years of exclusive rights to a new product outright in some
countries, they said.
It was still unclear how that set of standards would influence
pricing for future drugs. It was also unclear if other delegations,
including Peru and Chile, would endorse the proposal.
Separately, the United States and Japan had reached agreement in
principle on trade in autos and auto parts in talks that also
included Canada and Mexico. That agreement is expected to give U.S.
automakers, led by General Motors <GM.N> and Ford <F.N>, extended
tariff protection against low-cost pickup truck imports from Asia,
people briefed on the talks have said.
But it would also give Japan’s auto industry, led by Toyota Motor
<7203.T>, a freer hand to source parts from Asia, including from
plants outside the TPP-zone like China, on vehicles sold in North
America.
A "rule of origin" would stipulate that only 45 percent of a vehicle
would have to be sourced from within the TPP, down from the
equivalent ratio of 62.5 percent under NAFTA, officials have said.
The announcement of a deal on Monday would mark the start of what
could be a close-fought battle to ratify it in Congress.
Many Democrats and labor groups have raised questions about what the
TPP would mean for jobs in manufacturing and environmental
protections. Meanwhile Republicans, including Sen. Orrin Hatch, the
powerful chairman of the Senate finance committee, have urged the
administration to hold the line on intellectual property
protections, including for drugs.
(Reporting by Krista Hughes; Additional reporting by Ana Isabel
Martinez in Mexico City; Editing by Diane Craft and Will Waterman)
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