They aren't free trade negotiations. They are protectionist trade deals meant to exclude China from trade in its region as it rises. (China has been trying, similarly, to arrange ASEAN trade deals to exclude the United States).
Given its strategic nature its role is to protect both Western powers and regional countries that want investment from the West and to grow against the rise of China.
Since it protects 40% of the world GDP at the explicit and planned sacrifice of other nations and because it is used to instantiate international laws that protect those same countries I call it protectionist. And if you look at the leaked memos it's really not so big a stretch. It's also been called protectionist by people not aware of its strategic value (e.g. Assange).