Those who defend the TPP11 emphasize that it opens the door to the export without tariffs of more than 3,000 “tariff lines” (by-products) and that it will generate annual income for Chile of 1,200 million dollars. Despite this and according to its detractors, the treaty threatens the economic sovereignty of countries and grants transnational corporations the right to sue States in international arbitration bodies.
During the day of this Tuesday, October 11, the Senate approved the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP11) -considered the third largest trade agreement in the world- with 27 votes in favor, 10 against and one abstention.
In this way, the Senate ratified after 4 years of processing to the project that includes 11 nations and that already qualifies Chile as a potential member.
To the next step to this project is the final deposit, an action that must be carried out by the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric.
The Chamber of Deputies approved it in 2019 with a narrow margin and, after spending several years in a drawer, the Senate resumed its discussion at the end of September.
In force since December 2018, the agreement seeks to eliminate or reduce tariff barriers in the 11 member countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam) and covers a market of almost 500 million people, what the represents 13% of world GDP.
After the approval of the TPP11, another debate began in the Chamber, regarding the interpretative declarations of the Senators of Approve Dignity.
TPP11 and signature of the side letters
Let us remember that the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations, Jose Miguel Ahumada assured at the beginning of the month that the Government will not make the final TPP11 deposit.
The foregoing, until they have a response from all the countries of the treaty for the strategy of bilateral letters or side letters.
The Undersecretary’s comments came after a session of the Chamber of the Senate where the trade agreement was discussed, prior to this afternoon’s vote.
Ahumada’s statements may be problematic because senators like Ricardo Lagos Weber and Juan Ignacio Latorre have confirmed that Australia, a country that has already received the letter, it could take several months to reply to the bilateral letter.
Las side letters son “bilateral agreements between signatory countries of a plurilateral agreement, in which certain specific rules are agreed between said countries”.
This means that between bloc countries, by common agreement, certain determinations can be made about the TPP-11 rules. Examples of this are interpreting them in a certain way, adapting them or even leaving them without effect.