The United States is set to join trade negotiations with four other nations next month, the top U.S. trade negotiator said on Monday. In a statement, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab that the United States will meet with Singapore, Chile, New Zealand and Brunei. The four countries which make up the so-called “P-4” group negotiated its own Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership is based largely on the United States's FTAs with Singapore and Chile, the statement said. “We [the United States] see these investment and financial services negotiations as an opportunity to further our engagement with countries committed to high-standard trade agreements,” Schwab said. That FTA took effect in 2006, but the investment and financial services chapters remain to be negotiated. Schwab said that as part of the United States' participation in the negotiations, U.S. President George W. Bush's administration would also begin an exploration of “whether it should participate in the full Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership.” “This initiative also will provide another opportunity for the United States to participate in the regional trade architecture that is emerging in the vitally important Asia-Pacific region,” she said. Frank Vargo, who is the vice president of international economic policy at the National Association of Manufacturers', who hosted Schwab, said that “these negotiations are a great opportunity for the United States to extend the highest-quality investment and financial services language—including robust investor-state provisions—to strong trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region.”
