Australia shifts on Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal ratification following Donald Trump’s executive order to pull US out • What is the TPP and is it over? Guardian briefing

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Malcolm Turnbull has walked back a commitment to ratify the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement in parliament because it is not clear whether the legislation will pass.

The Coalition began the week calling for a clear statement from parliament to ratify the agreement. In a statement on Sunday, the trade minister, Steve Ciobo, said “ratification of the agreement is the strongest message we can send on the importance of the TPP”.

“It would be a clear statement from the Australian parliament that we reject protectionism and that open markets are the path to long-term sustainable job creation.”

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But Donald Trump formally dumped trade agreement on Tuesday in the final stages of negotiations in the decade long process and Labor has so far refused to commit to ratification until it sees legislation.

Asked if the government would still introduce legislation for ratification when parliament returned, Turnbull equivocated on Thursday.

“We will make the decision as to when legislation is introduced based on continuing discussions with other countries and, of course, the position in the Senate,” Turnbull said.

“It’s not my practice to introduce legislation into the parliament that isn’t going to be passed. We’ll assess that on its merits.”



Earlier this week the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, refused to commit Labor to ratifying the agreement in the parliament. Asked if Labor would vote against the TPP, Shorten said the agreement was dead.

“The TPP is dead,” Shorten said. “How on earth can Mr Turnbull want to waste the time of the parliament, asking the parliament to ratify an agreement which includes America, when America’s not in it? It is just the peak of delusional absurdity.”

Turnbull acknowledged the difficulties of both renegotiating the agreement between the 11 remaining members and ratifying the agreement in the parliament. He accused Shorten of populism and said Labor’s stance was a threat to jobs.

“Bill Shorten thinks he can get on a populist bandwagon and be against trade and the absurdity of it is he is going around, in his fluoro vests, going to businesses which depend on trade,” Turnbull said on Thursday.

What is the TPP? The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a 12-nation trade pact aiming to liberalise the flow of goods among countries in the Pacific Rim. The product of more than seven years of negotiations and a signature achievement of Barack Obama's presidency, the TPP would cut tariffs on thousands of items and attempt to unify copyright laws across its members.

China notably declined to sign on to the deal and Donald Trump has announced he will withdraw from the agreement, following through on a campaign promise that struck a chord with many working-class US voters. There have been protests against the TPP in the United States, New Zealand and Japan.

According to the final chapter of the TPP, the trade agreement can go ahead only if at least six of its 12 original members have ratified the agreement, and if those six countries represent 85% of the combined GDP of all 12 countries. Without the US or Japan involved there is no way for the remaining signatories to fulfil the 85% requirement.

Turnbull described the withdrawal of the US as a very big loss which would require the TPP to be renegotiated among the remaining countries. However he said Japan had encouraged Australia to follow its lead and ratify the agreement anyway.

“Japan has ratified the TPP and encouraged us to complete our ratification process, as indeed, have other countries because everyone would like, in the future, the United States to rethink its position and join the TPP,” Turnbull said.

“But I don’t think – nothing is impossible – but I don’t think that’s likely in the foreseeable future.”

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Turnbull would not comment on Trump’s position but said Australia was highly dependent on trade.

“It isn’t rocket science – we are much more dependent on trade than other comparable countries like the United States, for example,” Turnbull said.

“So getting those markets open is the difference between having a job, having a better job, having as successful business right around Australia.”

The Greens, One Nation and the Nick Xenophon Team are opposed to the TPP in the Senate.