Chilean Senate ratifies transatlantic agreement but Boric postpones its signature

The Senate Chilean approved this Tuesday the free treaty transpacific trade (CPTPP, in English) after almost four years of processing, although President Gabriel Boric will postpone its ratification pending bilateral negotiations.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty of Trans-Pacific Partnershipwhich President Boric opposed before coming to power, was approved by 27 votes in favor, 10 against and one abstention, at the end of an intense parliamentary debate, where he was supported by the entire opposition right and resisted by pro-government parliamentarians .

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The left-wing bloc, made up of the Communist Party and the Broad Front, rejected the initiative while another part of the ruling coalition approved it considering the economic slowdown that the country is going through. Chili.

“This treaty mortgages the possibility that this country has of making autonomous decisions”accused the communist senator Claudia Pascual, casting her vote against.

“This agreement is a lever or a motor for the local economy”by releasing more than 3,000 tariff restrictions on Chilean products, right-wing senator Juan Antonio Coloma affirmed on his side, voting in favor.

Signed by 11 Asia-Pacific countries in 2018, including Mexico, Chile and Peru, it is the largest free trade pact in the region, which represents around 13.5% of the world economy.

For the agreement to enter into force it must be signed by the president borikbut first the president seeks to negotiate with each of the other member countries the signing of the so-called “bilateral letters” either “side letters”, to exclude the chapter referring to the dispute settlement mechanism.

Environmental activists participate in a demonstration against the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP or TPP11), in front of the National Congress in Valparaíso, Chile, on October 11, 2022. (Photo by Adriana TOMASA / AFP) (ADRIANA THOMASA /)

“The president has decided, within his exclusive powers, to wait for the progress of the ‘side letters’ before ratifying the agreement. For this, the government has deployed its efforts to negotiate these letters in the different forums in which it participates”, said the chancellor Antonia Urrejola.

Charters are mechanisms that are negotiated between two countries and must be ratified by national congresses. According to Urrejola, through this mechanism, Chile seeks to modernize the dispute resolution mechanisms between investors and states included in the treaty.

Social organizations protested before the vote outside Congress in the port of Valparaíso, some 120 km west of Santiago.

The trade agreement, which links some 500 million people, was initially promoted by the United States to increase its influence in the region and try to isolate China, but former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the negotiations in 2017.

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Even so, a year later the treaty was signed that includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam.

Chili It is one of the countries with the largest number of trade agreements in the world after signing 32 bilateral agreements with 65 economies, including the United States, Japan and China, which together represent 88% of world GDP, according to the Undersecretary of Relations International.

Source: Elcomercio