On Oct. 5, the United States and eleven Pacific Rim nations
(Japan, Vietnam, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Peru, Chile,
Singapore, New Zealand and Brunei) concluded negotiations on the
most sweeping free trade agreement in U.S. history. The
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement will eliminate
tariffs and revamp Customs rules for trade amongst all 12 TPP
countries, with some tariffs eliminated immediately and others
phased out over a period as long as 30 years. The Agreement defines
how much processing must occur in a TPP country in order for a good
to qualify for these tariff reductions, with these "rules of
origin" varying by product. Indeed, the TPP Agreement contains
30 chapters covering trade and trade-related issues, beginning with
trade in goods and continuing through sanitary and phytosanitary
measures for agriculture products; technical barriers to trade;
anti-dumping and anti-subsidy rules; investment; services (such as
express delivery,
