Trade ministers reached a landmark agreement on a deal that’s a cornerstone of Obama’s legacy

Business Insider via Reuters ^ | 10/05/2015 | Krista Hughes and Kevin Krolicki, Reuters

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Pacific trade ministers have reached a deal on the most sweeping trade liberalization pact in a generation that will cut trade barriers and set common standards for 12 countries, an official familiar with the talks said on Monday.

Leaders from a dozen Pacific Rim nations are poised to announce the pact later on Monday. The deal could reshape industries and influence everything from the price of cheese to the cost of cancer treatments.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership would affect 40 percent of the world economy and would stand as a legacy-defining achievement for U.S. President Barack Obama, if it is ratified by Congress.

Lawmakers in other TPP countries must also approve the deal.

The final round of negotiations in Atlanta, which began on Wednesday, had snared on the question of how long a monopoly period should be allowed on next-generation biotech drugs, until the United States and Australia negotiated a compromise.

The TPP deal has been controversial because of the secret negotiations that have shaped it over the past five years and the perceived threat to an array of interest groups from Mexican auto workers to Canadian dairy farmers.

Although the complex deal sets tariff reduction schedules on hundreds of imported items from pork and beef in Japan to pickup trucks in the United States, one issue had threatened to derail talks until the end – the length of the monopolies awarded to the developers of new biological drugs.

[SeekAndFind]

[EQAndyBuzz]

How bad does Obama want his legacy and what is he willing to give up to get it?

[combat_boots]

If approved, POTUS can modify this agreement in any fashion for the time of the approval +6 years-—as in the length of Biden’s term, AKA Obama’s 3rd.. Any country can join after the fact. US law is subservient to a panel outside of the US. Slavery in Vietnam and Malaysia is ok/the anti-slavery provision has been removed. There is a provision about natural resources, which, if I read it correctly, speaks about ownership, although the way I was reading about it, I specifically got the impression of the sale of them. Any person in any of the signatory countries can move freely for work. Migration from Mexico will be unlimited. Effectively, Codex Alimentarius goes into effect.

[butlerweave]

Another step towards Obama’s Dream , World Government

[lewislynn]

Ted Cruz will be tripping over his own feet to get to the table to sign this deal under the guise of "free trade"

Here's why:
Heidi Cruz's work for the Council on Foreign Relations: Building a North American Community

...The Task Force’s central recommendation is the creation by 2010 of a North American community to enhance security, prosperity, and opportunity. Its boundaries will be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter within which the movement of people, products, and capital will be legal, orderly, and safe. Its goal will be to guarantee a free, secure, just, and prosperous North America...