* TPP trade talks enter final day on Friday
* Dairy exports, medicines still major hurdles
* Final news conference scheduled for Friday 1930 ET
By Krista Hughes
LAHAINA, Hawaii, July 30 (Reuters) - Pacific Rim trade
ministers neared the final spurt of negotiations on an ambitious
free trade pact on Thursday, but differences over farm exports
and monopoly periods for next-generation drugs were preventing
them from reaching an elusive final deal.
Ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would cut trade barriers and
set common standards for 40 percent of the world economy, are
meeting in Hawaii to try to hammer out a deal.
But major issues are still unresolved, including dairy
exports and exclusivity periods for biologic drugs. The United
States is pushing for 12 years but Australia and other countries
want five.
"They are few but very contested," Mexican Trade Minister
Ildefonso Guajardo told Reuters of the outstanding issues.
A final news conference is scheduled for 1330 local time on
Friday (1930 ET). Ministers appeared relaxed as they were
garlanded with leis at the official photo.
"It's tough," said one official involved in the talks, who
asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the
discussions, which seek to meld one-on-one negotiations over
market access with a one-size-fits-all approach to rules.
"There are issues on dairy, on intellectual property, but
it's not always clear where things stand. I know about my issues
but I don't always know what's happening with other countries."
About 650 officials from 12 nations are taking part in the
negotiations on the Hawaiian island of Maui, with more than 150
media and numerous lobby groups and stakeholders also attending.
Negotiators have stressed they are doing their utmost to
close the deal this week but also warned that not all industries
will get what they want, amid a flurry of last-minute appeals.
APPEALS ROLL IN
U.S. lawmakers, including from tobacco-growing states such
as North Carolina, renewed warnings against excluding tobacco
from rules allowing foreign companies to sue a host government.
Sources briefed on the negotiations have told Reuters the
United States has floated such an exception. It would be
narrower than the broad exclusion for health and environmental
policy sought by Australia, which is being sued by Marlboro
maker Philip Morris PM.N over tobacco plain packaging laws.
Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said on Tuesday that
countries were "well down the track" on securing protection from
litigation over health and environment policy.
On market access, Australia's bid to export more sugar to
the United States has the backing of U.S. confectioners and
beverage companies.
"The United States needs to grant Australia commercially
meaningful access," Sweetener Users Association chairman Perry
Cerminara, who also handles sugar for chocolate maker The
Hershey Co HSY.N , wrote in a letter to U.S. Trade
Representative Michael Froman.
U.S. canegrowers oppose more imports, and Mexico is keen to
safeguard its preferential access to the U.S. sugar market.
"Of course we all have to make an effort, but the effort has
to be in line with the principle ... that the very, very, very
sensitive products are subject to a less aggressive schedule of
market opening," Guajardo said when asked about sugar.
Dairy is another tricky issue, with New Zealand, Australia
and the United States frustrated with Canada, and New Zealand
and Australia also looking for more access to U.S. and Japanese
markets.
Australian Dairy Industry Council chairman Noel Campbell
said discussions had gone backwards in some cases and he had
hoped for more progress.
Canada hit back at complaints that it is holding up a deal.
"To say that one particular issue is a sticking point to a
potential deal just isn't based in reality. A number of very
serious issues remain for countries to negotiate," said Rick
Roth, spokesman for Trade Minister Ed Fast.
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Graphic on trade flows http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/tpp/
Take-a-look: ID:nL1N10212J
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