By Jite Eriabie
Eleven countries, including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, finalized their agreement on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in Tokyo, Japan on January 23, 2018.
It is expected the agreement will be signed in March in Chile.
The TPP will eliminate more than 98 percent of tariffs in a trade zone with a combined GDP of USD 13.7 trillion. The agreement will deliver 18 new free trade agreements between the TPP parties and promises heightened container growth for participating countries.
“For Australia, that means new trade agreements with Canada and Mexico and greater market access to Japan, Chile, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei,” Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said.
“This a landmark deal for trade in our region. Australian businesses and farmers will now have more opportunities to export their food, fibre and services to more customers, more easily.”
“This is great news, and the right deal for Canadians – to create growth and good jobs today and for generations to come,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said commenting on the deal.
Once the agreement is signed, each signatory will undertake domestic treaty processes for ratification to enable the agreement to enter into force. The deal will enter into force when at least half of the signatories have completed their domestic ratification processes.
The original Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed in February 2016, however, following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the new president of the United States the U.S. pulled out from the deal in January 2017.
The remaining eleven nations launched talks on a new deal which was agreed upon in Da Nang, Vietnam, in November 2017.
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