Trade Deals

Available for over a year

President Obama is in Japan pushing for progress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - negotiations to create a free trade area covering large parts of the Americas and East Asia. The BBC's chief business correspondent Linda Yueh explains the potential benefits and the significance of one regional giant - China - not being involved. The director general of the World Trade Organisation, Roberto Azevedo, explains the link between regional trade deals and the global negotiations that he presides over. He welcomes regional deals but says they are not enough. But Dean Banker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington says the TPP negotiations are far too secretive and they are driven by the interests of busienss lobby groups. He doesn’t expect much economic benefit to come from it.