Tired of Waiting for 21st Century Trade Deal: Developing nations challenge Obama on global finance

Back when Japan announced that it was interested in joining the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations - which currently include the United States, current US FTA partners Australia, Chile, Peru, and Singapore, new FTA partners Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand and Vietnam - I noted that admitting the economic power and close US ally was a no-brainer.

An important article in the Latin American press peculiarly has not gotten the attention it deserves. Or perhaps not so peculiarly, given the Obama administration’s intention to keep the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations as far out of the public eye as possible. An overview of the TPP from a post earlier this month:

Claude Barfield, 1 August 2012Canada and Mexico have recently been invited to join negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This column argues that this is a big deal. It could produce a domino effect, beginning with the addition of Japan and Korea and leading to a model 21st century trade area encompassing over 700 million people with a combined GDP of some $26 trillion.Full Article: Trans-Pacific Partnership enlarged: A trade agreement that may remake world trade governance

President Obama’s senior trade officials are in San Diego this week for negotiations on the deal being billed as the 21st Century Trade Agreement – the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The administration is touting this Partnership between the U.S., Australia and seven other countries as a model for future negotiations on trade [...]

The big news of the day was that, as has been expected for the last week or so, Mexico has joined the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.  USTR formally announced the news this morning: 

As had been rumored for about a week now, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced today that his country will formally seek to join the ongoing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which currently include the United States, current US FTA partners Australia, Chile, Peru, and Singapore, new FTA partners Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand and Vietnam.  It's undeniable that Japan's membership in the TPP would provide immense economic benefits for US

By Kaori Kaneko TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan