Trans-Pacific Partnership countries agree to continue pact without Donald Trump’s US
Eleven nations to press on with rebranded free-trade deal after reaching agreement in talks at Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam
The 11 remaining members of the defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Saturday reached an agreement to proceed with the trade pact under a new name and without the United States, as China, which is not involved, said the revised arrangement would not affect initiatives backed by Beijing.
Vietnam’s Industry and Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh said on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Da Nang that following three days of negotiations, ministers from the countries involved had decided to call the new regional free-trade arrangement the “Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership”.
“We have reached agreement on a number of fundamentals,” he said.
Zhang Jun, director general of the Department of International Economic Affairs at China’s foreign ministry, responded to the news by saying it would not affect the development of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
“Even though the negotiation of RCEP is difficult, it is making progress,” he said.