At APEC in 2011 the political leaders of TPPA countries told negotiators to finish the deal by the end of 2012. Now John Key says a TPP won’t be signed in 2012 and a 2013 deal was only ‘possible’. At APEC last week the TPP trade ministers reported ‘significant narrowing of gaps’ in some areas, and slower progress in others! The political leaders told negotiators ‘to direct their energies at promptly finding pragmatic, creative, flexible, and mutually-acceptable solutions to the remaining issues under negotiation.’ That suggests high-risk political tradeoffs simply to make a deal.
