Pacific Rim free trade talks go down to the wire

LAHAINA, Hawaii, July 31 (Reuters) - Talks on a Pacific Rim
free-trade pact faced a fast-approaching deadline on Friday as
trading partners aimed to wrap up a deal within hours, with
issues including trade in dairy products and monopoly periods
for next-generation drugs still unresolved.
Trade ministers from the 12 nations negotiating the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would stretch from Japan to
Chile and cover 40 percent of the world economy, had a news
conference scheduled for 1:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET) on
the Hawaiian island of Maui.
"We are still aiming to conclude the negotiations by the
time of the news conference," Japanese Economy Minister Akira
Amari said before heading into a plenary session.
"Some countries are insisting on enormous demands and that's
the cause of the impasse."
Dairy exports are a top sticking point, with New Zealand -
which has said it will not back a deal that is not good for
dairy - and Australia seeking more access to Japanese, Canadian
and U.S. markets.
John Wilson, chairman of the world's largest dairy exporter,
New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra FCG.NZ , arrived to
attend the talks late on Thursday to press home the case.
"It's still dire. This thing is now on a knife edge. There
is still not enough in this for New Zealand at all," said Mike
Petersen, who represents New Zealand's farm sector.
Ministers have also yet to agree on how long to protect data
used to develop biologic drugs. U.S. drugmakers want 12 years,
but Australia wants five. People briefed on the talks say a
compromise on seven or eight years seems likely, but Mexican
Trade Minister Ildefonso Guajardo stressed no deal was done.
"That is exactly what we are trying to negotiate," he told
reporters on his way into the meeting.