The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries recently concluded the latest round of negotiations in Leesburg, Virginia. Talks between the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam have been underway since 2010. Canada and Mexico will be joining the negotiations for the first time in early December.

U.S. athletic footwear manufacturer New Balance said on Thursday that it pressed the top U.S. trade official during a visit to its Norridgewock, Maine, factory to maintain tariffs on shoes from Vietnam in a proposed free-trade deal.Only 3,000 workers still make footwear in the United States, with about 1,350 of them employed by New Balance, headquartered in Boston, company spokesman Matt LeBretton told Reuters by phone after the meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators have continued to make progress at the 14th round of negotiations, which ended in Leesburg, Virginia. Responding to direction in the September 9th statement of TPP Leaders issued at Vladivostok, Russia, negotiators in Leesburg focused on resolving outstanding issues where possible and narrowing differences on those that still need work.

On 5 September in the margins of the APEC Leaders meeting in Vladivostok, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Ministers met to review the progress of TPP negotiations. Ministers provided a Report to TPP Leaders outlining the substantial headway that has been to date.

On 5 September in the margins of the APEC Leaders meeting in Vladivostok, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Ministers met to review the progress of TPP negotiations. Ministers provided a Report to TPP Leaders outlining the substantial headway that has been to date. TPP Leaders confirmed their commitment to concluding a comprehensive, truly regional TPP agreement as rapidly as possible, and welcomed new Members Canada and Mexico to the negotiating group.

According to TPP's leaked text on Intellectual Property, the U.S. is pushing for agressive measures that would further endanger access to affordable medicines against cancer, heart disease and HIV/AIDS, among others.

This is a study of the Public Citizen under the Golbal Access to Medicine Program. It provides a comparison of the Patent Linkage Provisions in U.S. FTAs and U.S. Proposal to the TPP.

A recent report in the Wall Street Journal by Mitsuru Obe suggests that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will announce a decision to participate in the TPP after a cabinet reshuffle (scheduled for early October).

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a sweeping, plurilateral free-trade agreement spanning the Pacific Rim.

LEESBURG, Va. -- With 1,350 employees in its five U.S. factories, New Balance is proud that it still produces 7 million pairs of shoes each year at its plants in Maine and Massachusetts, the last major athletic footwear company that still has manufacturing jobs in the United States.