The agreement must be ratified by all 12 participating nations prior to coming into force.The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), officially signed last week in Auckland, New Zealand, is an industry priority for AEM members this year.
Accounting for nearly 40 percent of the world’s economy, this free trade agreement will drastically alter trade and investment throughout the region and be a monumental boost to equipment manufacturers.
Currently, U.S. machinery exports face tariffs as high as 59 percent in new TPP markets. Upon the trade agreement’s ratification, 96.8 percent of U.S. machinery exports to the new TPP markets will enjoy duty-free access immediately.
Given that U.S equipment manufacturers exported $4.4 billion in machinery to these new markets just in 2014, the estimated cost savings to U.S. manufacturers will be substantial.
While the elimination of tariffs on U.S. machinery exports to this region is important, new rules surrounding intellectual property rights protection, customs and trade facilitations, government procurement, state-owned enterprises, remanufacturing and rules of origin will drastically enhance U.S. manufacturers’ competitiveness and expand market opportunities for U.S. manufactured goods.
AEM will be providing members with in-depth policy analysis on this industry priority and will be actively engaging Congress to support the TPP agreement.
For further information, please contact AEM’s Alex Russ (aruss@aem.org, tel: 202-898-9064).
