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CANBERRA, Australia – A trade pact between eleven Pacific Rim countries will come into effect this year after Australia becomes the sixth country to ratify it, nearly two years after President Trump withdrew US negotiations.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, signed in March, is the largest free trade agreement in Asia and comes at a time of growing tension between the United States and China.
Proponents of the agreement argue that this is perhaps the most important trade agreement in over two decades, modernizing these agreements to accommodate the rise of digital commerce, services and copyright in a growing region including Japan and its long-time allies.
Last year, Mr. Trump had pulled the United States out of the initial negotiation in one of his first acts as president, claiming that it would disadvantage US workers. The agreement was supported by the Obama administration and many congressional Republicans, but he died during the 2016 election season.
The remaining 11 countries that subsequently agreed to a revised agreement – Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam – committed to reducing barriers to trade in goods and services. services, as well as the protection of intellectual property rights in a region of nearly 500 million people representing about 13% of global GDP.
New Zealand Trade Minister David Parker, whose country is coordinating the process, said the trade agreement would start cutting tariffs by December. It will eliminate tariffs on about 95% of goods traded between member countries, whose combined GDP amounts to about $ 10 trillion.
Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru and Vietnam have not yet ratified the agreement. But Australia's approval – the sixth after Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan and Mexico – triggered two sets of tariff cuts starting December 30 and another early next year. .
The agreement will also remove tariffs on sensitive products such as imports of agricultural products in countries such as Japan and Mexico. Many tariffs will drop to zero on the first day, while agricultural products will be duty-free within three to seven years.
"I expect that other signatories will adhere to the agreement once the agreement comes into force, as many are working hard to advance their applicable domestic procedures," M said. Parker in a statement on Wednesday.
Long-time US allies, including Japan, have pleaded for this deal to counter China's economic influence in the region.
The US president told lawmakers in April that he had asked his advisers to consider whether the US should reinstate the TPP. But he pointed out the hard way to go in all the negotiations, saying in a tweet that he "would only join the TPP if the agreement was substantially better than the one offered" to Mr. Obama.
Write to Rob Taylor at [email protected]
