Trade ministers from the 12 nations involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership are meeting this weekend for the last round of negotiations of the controversial trade deal for the year.
New Zealand's Tim Groser will join his counterparts in Singapore for four days of talks from Saturday for their last chance to secure a Pacific-wide regional trade deal before the self-imposed deadline of the end of the year.
The TPP negotiations have been going for three years, and have been marked by criticism of apparent secrecy around the document, and the United States' stance on key issues like copyright and patent.
Business commentator Rod Oram recently told Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon that the US is very isolated in the TPP trade talks. There is also a surprising lack of solidarity between some countries you'd expect to be closely aligned, like New Zealand and Australia.
Concerns have also been voiced that the TPP will compromise the efficacy of the Government's drug-buying agency Pharmac.
A group of 60 doctors wrote to Health Minister Tony Ryall earlier this week, saying Pharmac's future is threatened by this weekend's negotiations.
"We believe Pharmac and its ability to negotiate a balanced portfolio of affordable medicines for New Zealanders as of critical importance to our stretched health system," said Auckland University's Dr Papaarangi Reid, a spokesperson for the group.
Opponents of the TPP also believe an agreement is close, and predict political leaders will accept tighter intellectual property rules in exchange for greater access to the US market.
Anti-TPP protests are planned in Australia, the United States and Japan over the weekend.
Radio New Zealand’s Economics Correspondent Patrick O’Meara will consider if any sort of agreement can be reached within the given timeframe on Radio New Zealand National's Insight programme after the 8am news bulletin on Sunday, or online afterwards here.
We've put together a rundown of the proposed agreement, the arguments for and against, and how it might affect you here.