US business groups worry over pace of TPP deal US business is urging the Obama administration not to compromise on key intellectual property and investment provisions as leaders of 12 countries intent on reaching a Pacific Rim trade deal prepare to meet in Indonesia next week for what are billed as crucial talks. The US has said it would like to conclude negotiations towards a Trans-Pacific Partnership by the end of 2013. US President Barack Obama, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, and other leaders and trade ministers attending next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bali are expected to make a new push to wrap up the discussions and try to break the deadlock on a number of sticking points. The TPP, which includes countries now involved in a third of the world's trade and is at the heart of the Obama administration's second term agenda, has been billed as a 21st century trade deal aimed at setting new high standards for future agreements. US business groups have been big backers of the Obama administration's ambitious second-term trade agenda, which includes not just the TPP but also a push for an even larger EU-US trade agreement and a rewriting of the rules for the $4tn annual trade in services. As part of that business groups are eager to see the TPP negotiations concluded. In a July letter to US trade representative Michael Froman, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and other industry groups called for a "timely" conclusion. In another letter to members of Congress earlier this month business groups also called for the US legislature to give Mr Obama so-called fast-track authority to negotiate a deal before the end of the year. But in an interview with the Financial Times, Tom Donohue, the head of the US Chamber of Commerce, said he was concerned that in the rush to get a deal done before the end of the year the US may give up too much ground on key provisions. "We've worked [to back the TPP] harder than anybody," Mr Donohue told the FT ahead of a trip to Asia that will include a stop in Bali to meet APEC leaders. But we're at the same time saying this is going to be a great deal when it gets done. Let's just not rush it. Speed is important but not without content. We're willing to slow it down a month, or two or three to get the content right," he said. A massive percentage of the world's [future] explosion in growth and trade is going to happen in the Pacific Rim. We're concerned that in the excitement to get that deal people may compromise a bit too much. The intervention by the head of the largest business group in the US followed one last week by the chamber and eight other groups in which they called on the TPP countries to live up to the original ambition of the agreement. "The US business community is concerned that the TPP as negotiated to date has yet to achieve the level of ambition pledged by the governments," the groups wrote in the September 18 letter to chief negotiators. We urge you to redouble your efforts toward the goal of a comprehensive, high-standard and commercially meaningful agreement that removes barriers to trade and investment, and addresses 21st century challenges in all sectors. A massive percentage of the world's explosion in growth and trade is going to happen in the Pacific Rim. We're concerned that in the excitement to get that deal people may compromise too much Tom Donohue, head of the US Chamber of Commerce Among his key concerns, Mr Donohue said, were that the US would soften its push for strong intellectual property rules, which some activists fear would make it harder to sell generic drugs in developing countries. US business is also pushing for strong rules to allow the free flow of data across borders and efforts to address what some see as the potential for unfair competition from state-owned enterprises in some TPP economies. Mr Donohue said a proposed investor-state dispute settlement mechanism was also crucial as it would allow multinational companies to see their disputes with TPP countries adjudicated by a third party. As they try to close a deal after 19 rounds of talks, negotiators from TPP countries have intensified their meetings in recent months. Last week senior negotiators gathered in Washington for four days of discussions ahead of the APEC summit.