A trade deal being negotiated by 12 Pacific Rim nations has reached the endgame, but must be agreed by the middle of the year or face being overtaken by U.S. domestic politics, New Zealand's trade minister said. Tim Groser said much of the final shape of the Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP) agreement was already understood, but crunch time was approaching to settle the hard issues. "We will either get this done by the middle of the year or this negotiation will get kicked down the road beyond the Obama administration," Groser told Reuters in an interview. Once the United States got involved in the run-up to the presidential election, Washington would be diverted and attention to TPP would diminish, he said. TPP would link a dozen Asia-Pacific economies by eliminating trade barriers and harmonizing regulations in a pact covering two-fifths of the world economy and a third of all global trade. Chief negotiators of the TPP countries will meet in Hawaii next month, but Groser could not say if a meeting of ministers was likely in April as Mexico's economy minister asserted this week. A U.S.-Japan trade pact, and fast-track trade authority for the Obama administration, were crucial to reaching a TPP deal, Groser said. Last week, Japan's economy minister Akira Amari said it was becoming more difficult to reach a deal by March as had originally been hoped. Groser said his understanding was the two countries were making progress, and their deal would shape and color the broader agreement. He said U.S. legislation to ease the passage of trade deals through Congress, known as trade promotion authority (TPA), would speed up a TPP deal by putting a stop to endless calls for concessions. "TPA improves chances people will put down their absolutely best offer and then be prepared to tough it out, by taking some tough political decisions," he said. Groser said the talks still had to confront problematic issues involving intellectual property, pharmaceuticals, rules on state commercial enterprises, and agricultural market access. "We've got to get this done politically by the middle of the year, there would unquestionably be important detail to be done after that, but once the political deal has been done officials can tidy this away," Groser said. New Zealand wants improved market access for its agricultural produce, especially dairy goods, as well as protecting its state pharmaceutical buying agency. "It's clear now what those real hard nuts are, and it's my view that it's put up or shut up time." (Reuters)