By Ami Miyazaki and Krista Hughes
LAHAINA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Talks on a Pacific Rim free-trade pact are unlikely to end in a final deal, sources involved in the talks said on Friday, with a dispute between Japan and the United States over autos, New Zealand digging in over trade in dairy products and no agreement on monopoly periods for next-generation drugs.
Trade ministers from the 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would stretch from Japan to Chile and cover 40 percent of the world economy, delayed until 4 p.m. local time (10 p.m. ET/0200 GMT) a news conference originally scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Three sources involved in the talks said a last-minute breakthrough was unlikely due to issues with dairy and auto trade and a stand-off over biologic drugs, although ministers were due to meet again shortly.
"It would be very difficult to arrive at a deal," one of the officials said, requesting anonymity because discussions were ongoing.
Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the problem lay with the big economies. "The sad thing is, 98 percent is concluded," he said.
New Zealand has said it will not back a deal that does not significantly open dairy markets, with an eye to the United States, Japan and Canada, as well as Mexico.
John Wilson, chairman of the world's largest dairy exporter, New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra
Ministers had also yet to agree on how long to protect data used to develop biologic drugs. U.S. drugmakers want 12 years, but Australia wants five. People briefed on the talks had said seven or eight years would be a possible compromise.
As the talks entered their final hours, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from the tobacco-growing state of Kentucky who will be influential in garnering votes in Congress for the deal, added his weight to warnings against excluding tobacco from rules allowing foreign companies to sue host governments over policies that harm their business.
Marlboro maker Philip Morris
(Reporting by Ami Miyazaki and Krista Hughes; Editing by Dan Grebler and Ken Wills)
