The failure to complete the deal — eight years in the making — means the next round of trade negotiations will push the U.S. ratification fight into 2016, a presidential election year.
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Trade negotiators from the United States and 11 other Pacific nations were headed toward failure Friday, with difficult talks on the largest regional trade agreement ever breaking down over protections for pharmaceutical companies and access to agriculture markets on both sides of the Pacific.
Negotiators will return to their home countries to obtain high-level signoffs for a small number of final sticking points on the agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with bilateral talks reconvening soon.