Barack Obama has pledged to expand Asia America trade agreements. Even though he is dealing with some quite heavy duty issues within his own political party, on speaking with Canadian and Mexican policymakers he stressed the importance of the US maintaining its “competitive advantage”. The countries are currently working on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which is an agreement between 12 nations that would probably be one of the largest trade deals in the world.
The Three Amigos – the term given to the talks transpiring between the three nations – have each had their fair change of changes in their economies since the previous major trade agreement occurred around 20 years ago – the NAFTA.
It is hoped that these negotiations will result in North America Asia trade relations 20 year bloc being “revitalized.” Still there are some issues that remain to be taken care of, such as Canada’s refusal to end visa requirements for Mexican visitors as well as the somewhat controversial Keystone XL pipeline project that would bring oil from Canada to Texas but could have a negative environmental impact. Still if the TPP does go ahead, it could result in US leaders agreeing on labor and environmental standards that were lacking in the NAFTA agreement.
The TPP agreement involves all the NAFTA nations as well as Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. This figure comprises 40 percent of the global economy.