TOKYO (Reuters) - Eleven countries aiming to forge an Asia-Pacific trade pact after the United States pulled out of an earlier version will sign an agreement in Chile in March, Japan’s economy minister said on Tuesday, in a big win for Tokyo.

Trade officials had been meeting in Tokyo to resolve rifts including Canada’s insistence on protections for its cultural industries such as movies, TV and music.

An agreement is a win for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, which has been lobbying hard to save the pact, originally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

In one of his first acts as U.S. president in January 2017, Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the original 12-nation treaty.

Abe has painted the deal as a spur to growth and reform in Japan and a symbol of commitment to free and multilateral trade at a time when Trump stresses “America First” policies.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the agreement the “right deal”.

Canada’s trade minister said in a statement it included an improved arrangement on autos with Japan and the suspension of intellectual property provisions that had been a concern.

The timing of the deal is significant for Canada, which is trying to diversify its exports. U.S., Canadian and Mexican negotiators opened a key week-long round of talks to modernize NAFTA on Tuesday.

The U.S. Wheat Associates and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) expressed concern the pact could put overseas demand for U.S. wheat “at serious risk,” saying Japan imports an average of 3.1 million tonnes of wheat from the United States a year.

After TPP-11 is fully implemented Japanese import tariffs on Canadian and Australian wheat would fall by some $65 per tonne, they said in a statement.

“If nothing else, this announcement should serve as a rallying cry for farmers, ranchers and dairy producers calling for the new trade deals we were promised when the president walked away from TPP,” said NAWG’s president Gordon Stoner.

Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), or TPP-11, would be an “engine to overcome protectionism” emerging in parts of the world.

He added Japan would explain the importance of the deal to Washington in hopes of persuading it to join.

Japanese Minister of Economic Revitalization Toshimitsu Motegi attends a news conference on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Ministerial Meeting during APEC 2017 in Da Nang, Vietnam, November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Kham

Ministers from the 11 countries, including Japan, Australia and Canada, agreed in November on core elements to move ahead without the United States, but demands by countries including Canada for measures to ensure the deal protects jobs blocked a final agreement.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last week the new agreement would leave a door open for eventual U.S. participation.

Canada, which wanted protection of its cultural industries, and Vietnam, which has worried about labor protection rules, will exchange separate side letters with other members on those topics at the time of the signing, Motegi said.</s>Canada's Trudeau says countries remaining in Trans-Pacific Partnership have agreed to new trade deal after US withdrawal.</s>TOKYO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Eleven countries aiming to forge a new Asia-Pacific trade pact after the United States dropped out of an earlier version last year will hold a signing ceremony in Chile in March, Kyodo news agency said on Tuesday, citing a Japanese source.

Trade officials from the 11 countries have been meeting in Tokyo to try to resolve rifts including Canada's insistence on protection of its cultural industries such as movies, TV and music.

Japan has been lobbying hard to save the pact, originally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the original 12-nation trade agreement last year. The new deal is known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), or TPP-11. (Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Nick Macfie)</s>TPP resurrected as nations get set to sign trade deal

Australia and 10 other nations have signalled they will sign a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership later this year.

Federal Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said the Asia-Pacific countries were "finally at the finish line" following talks between officials in Tokyo.

"It will drive Australian exports and create new Australian jobs," Mr Ciobo said.

Canada walked away from the 11-nation deal in November, but has since had several issues resolved.

But Mr Ciobo said the Turnbull Government had worked hard to revive the trade pact.

He said new deal would "eliminate more than 98 per cent of tariffs in a free-trade zone, with a combined GDP of $13.7 trillion".

Trade ministers will attend a signing ceremony in Chile in March.

It is understood the deal will include:
• The abolition of all tariffs on seafood, wine, sheep meat, cotton wool and manufactured goods across the region
• New bilateral trade deals for Australia with Canada and Mexico
• Japan speeding up the reduction of import barriers for Australian beef imports
• Improved conditions for Australian service exports within the region — such exports were worth more than $18 billion last financial year

The TPP was going to include the United States before Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in one of his first acts as President.

Several original provisions have been suspended under the new deal, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

"The agreement will deliver 18 new free trade agreements between the CPTPP parties," Mr Ciobo said.

"For Australia that means new trade agreements with Canada and Mexico and greater market access to Japan, Chile, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei."

Federal Labor last year declared the TPP "dead", saying it made no sense without the US on board.

Speaking from a major economic meeting in Switzerland, Mr Ciobo said the Opposition had been proven wrong.

"If it was up to them they would shut Australia out of this historic agreement and the big wins to delivers our farmers, manufactures and services providers," he said.

Nearly a quarter of Australia's exports last financial year, worth almost $88 billion, went to CPTPP countries.

Japan's Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the deal would act as an "engine to overcome protectionism" in developing economies.

He also said Japan would again try to persuade Washington to join the trade pact.</s>Labor has called on the government to submit the revived Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement to economic analysis, saying the public has a right to know if it will actually benefit Australia.

It has also rejected attempts by the Coalition to paint it as anti-trade, saying it will always support “good quality” trade agreements that create jobs and it retains the right to be sceptical of deals done in secret.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Wednesday lauded the resuscitation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which had been on life support since Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the deal a year ago.

He said 11 countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam – had reached agreement on a revised version of the agreement at an officials-level meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday night.

The trade deal has been renamed the final Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), to account for the United States’ exclusion. The agreement will be signed in March in Chile.

“This is a multi-billion-dollar win for Australian jobs. Australian workers, businesses, farmers and consumers will benefit,” Turnbull said in a joint statement with the trade minister, Steve Ciobo. “Labor and Bill Shorten declared this trade agreement dead – they urged the government to walk away. If Labor got their way, Bill Shorten would have shut Australia out of this historic agreement and denied our farmers, manufacturers, services providers and consumers the big wins the TPP delivers.

“The government will never give up on measures that create jobs for Australians,” they said.

But the shadow trade minister, Jason Clare, said the government needed to submit the revised deal to economic modelling. He said the deal was radically different without the United States’ involvement and voters ought to be told how it will affect Australia’s farmers and manufacturers.

“The original TTP was made up of countries that represented 40% of the world economy,” Clare said. “This represents about 13% of the world economy. It’s also struck out or suspended about 20 different clauses, so it’s a different agreement.

“I have said in the past that an agreement like this has merit. It will provide modest economic benefits for the economy, that’s what the World Bank said about the original agreement.

“[But] we don’t have the same sort of World Bank analysis of this agreement as we had with the last one.”

The government had refused to submit the original TPP to economic modelling, saying the World Bank had already done so.

The World Bank analysis showed Australia’s economy would grow by less than 1% as a result of the deal.

The analysis found by 2030, Australia’s gross domestic product could increase by just 0.7% as a result of the agreement. By contrast, Vietnam’s GDP could rise by 10% and Malaysia’s by 8%.</s>Japan says trans-Pacific trade pact, without U.S., to be signed in March

TOKYO - Eleven countries aiming to forge a new Asia-Pacific trade pact after the United States pulled out of an earlier version will hold a signing ceremony in Chile in March, Japan's economy minister said on Tuesday, in a big win for Tokyo.

Trade officials from the 11 countries had been meeting in Tokyo to try to resolve rifts including Canada's insistence on protection of its cultural industries such as movies, TV and music.

An agreement is a huge plus for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, which has been lobbying hard to save the pact, originally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the original 12-nation trade agreement last year.

Abe has painted the deal as a spur to growth and reform in Japan and a symbol of commitment to free and multilateral trade at a time when Trump is stressing "America First" policies.

Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said that the new agreement, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), or TPP-11, would be an "engine to overcome protectionism" emerging in parts of the world.

He also said Japan would explain the importance of the deal to Washington in hopes of persuading it to join.

Ministers from the 11 countries including Japan, Australia and Canada had agreed in November on core elements to move ahead without the United States, but demands by countries including Canada for measures to ensure the deal protects jobs have been a sticking point to finalizing the agreement.

"This outcome reaffirms the CPTPP countries' collective commitment towards greater trade liberalization and regional integration," Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last week that the new agreement would leave a door open for eventual U.S. participation.

Canada, which has sought protection of its cultural industries, and Vietnam, which has worried about labor protection rules, will exchange separate side letters with other members on those respective topics at the time of the signing, Motegi said.

The precise content of the letters will not be revealed until then, a Japanese official added. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Singapore; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Nick Macfie and Richard Borsuk)</s>TOKYO (Reuters) - Eleven countries aiming to forge a Asia-Pacific trade pact after the United States pulled out of an earlier version will sign an agreement in Chile in March, Japan’s economy minister said on Tuesday, in a big win for Tokyo.

Trade officials had been meeting in Tokyo to resolve rifts including Canada’s insistence on protections for its cultural industries such as movies, TV and music.

An agreement is a win for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, which has been lobbying hard to save the pact, originally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In one of his first acts as U.S. president in January 2017, Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the original 12-nation treaty.

Abe has painted the deal as a spur to growth and reform in Japan and a symbol of commitment to free and multilateral trade at a time when Trump stresses “America First” policies.

A Canadian government source confirmed Ottawa would sign on to the deal, saying it had “secured real gains.”

These included cultural protections and the suspension of investment provisions Canada objected to, said the source, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the situation.

Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), or TPP-11, would be an “engine to overcome protectionism” emerging in parts of the world.

He added Japan would explain the importance of the deal to Washington in hopes of persuading it to join.

Ministers from the 11 countries, including Japan, Australia and Canada, agreed in November on core elements to move ahead without the United States, but demands by countries including Canada for measures to ensure the deal protects jobs blocked a final agreement.

“This outcome reaffirms the CPTPP countries’ collective commitment towards greater trade liberalization and regional integration,” Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last week the new agreement would leave a door open for eventual U.S. participation.

Canada, which wanted protection of its cultural industries, and Vietnam, which has worried about labor protection rules, will exchange separate side letters with other members on those topics at the time of the signing, Motegi said.

The timing of the deal is significant for Canada, which is trying to diversify its exports. Talks with Mexico and the United States on modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have run into trouble and may fail.</s>OTTAWA – Canada and the remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreed Tuesday to a revised trade agreement without the United States.

The deal, confirmed by Singapore’s government, follows two days of high-level talks in Tokyo between Canada and the 10 other remaining TPP economies. The partners will now work toward signing the agreement by early March, Singapore’s trade and industry ministry said in a statement.

The deal was announced just hours after a Canadian government official said Ottawa was optimistic that a revised TPP pact would be reached as early as Tuesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Canadian Press that Ottawa believed a deal could be struck, even though it would still like to see more progress on negotiations surrounding the automotive and cultural sectors.

Canada, the second-largest economy among the TPP partners, was widely considered the main holdout in the negotiations.

The Tokyo talks were the first high-level talks since the leaders of the TPP economies met in November on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made international headlines there by deciding not to sign an agreement-in-principle on what has become known as TPP11.

Trudeau’s decision in Vietnam to continue negotiating for a better deal, rather than striking an agreement, led to the abrupt cancellation of a TPP leaders’ meeting in Danang.

Many believed the original TPP took a fatal blow when Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in one of his first acts as U.S. president.

The TPP agreement was reached as Canada faces a tough renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA negotiators from Canada, the United States and Mexico are meeting in Montreal this week.

The government official said Trudeau had been bringing up the Asia-Pacific trade pact in recent months every time he’s had conversations with leaders from the other partner economies. Over the last week, he discussed the deal with the leaders of New Zealand and Chile by phone.

Trudeau also dispatched well-connected Vancouver Economic Commission chief executive Ian McKay as his personal envoy at this

week’s negotiations in Japan, the official said. McKay, a former national director of Trudeau’s Liberal party, has “deep knowledge” of business in Japan and was engaging with the Japanese government at the highest level, they added.

READ MORE: Trudeau urged to join TPP trade deal by Canadian business leaders

McKay joined Canada’s chief and deputy chief TPP negotiators in Tokyo for two days of talks that were scheduled to wrap up Tuesday.

The 11 remaining TPP economies started working to salvage the deal after Trump withdrew last year.

Many of those leaders thought an agreement-in-principle was within reach in November.

Trudeau made international headlines at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Danang deciding not to sign an agreement-in-principle on what has become known as TPP11. Partner economies had been expecting him to come to an agreement.

He also made headlines at the summit for how he went about declining the deal.

Trudeau’s decision to continue negotiating for a better deal, rather than striking an agreement, led to the abrupt cancellation of a TPP leaders’ meeting on the sidelines of a summit.

The cancellation set off a confusing day of talks. Media reports directly blamed Canada and Trudeau for helping to scuttle the scheduled meeting.

But Trudeau later argued he had sent signals for days that he would not be rushed into a deal unless it was the right one.

TPP trade ministers did agree to a number of changes to nudge negotiations closer to a deal, including stronger protections for the environment and labour rights. They also suspended controversial provisions from the original TPP related to intellectual property, which the Canadian tech sector had long called on Ottawa to remove from the deal.

The pact was also rebranded the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Besides Canada, the TPP11 partners are Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Most importantly, the deal would open up access for Canada to Japan’s economy, the third-largest in the world. Canada’s agricultural, seafood and forestry sectors would see some of the greatest benefits, the official said.

The official insisted that International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland have also remained engaged with their TPP11 counterparts.

They added that Trudeau’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts, met with Japan’s ambassador last week to discuss the deal.

“We’ve made real progress both before and since Danang,” the official said.

A spokesman for Champagne wrote in an email late Monday that the government is trying to get the best deal for Canadian workers and businesses.

“As success will be determined over decades, it is important to get the details right,” Joseph Pickerill wrote.

“We are committed to being constructive, expeditious and ambitious towards that aim and are working collaboratively with our partners to this end.”</s>The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which had been on life support since Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the US, has finally been resuscitated.

The 11 remaining countries are expected to sign an amended agreement on 8 March in Chile, Australia’s trade minister, Steve Ciobo, has confirmed.

Canada threw a spanner in the works at the Apec summit in Vietnam last year, derailing efforts to finalise the deal.

Ottawa has since been coaxed back to the fold after lobbying efforts from Tokyo and Canberra.

Trade officials had been meeting in Tokyo to resolve rifts including Canada’s insistence on protections for its cultural industries such as movies, TV and music.

Canada’s trade minister said the pact included an improved arrangement on cars with Japan and the suspension of intellectual property provisions that had been a concern. 



The timing of the deal is significant for Canada, which is trying to diversify its exports. US, Canadian and Mexican negotiators opened a key, week-long round of talks to modernise Nafta on Tuesday. 



Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, overnight, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, called the agreement the “right deal”.

Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said last week the new agreement would leave a door open for eventual US participation.

The deal is planned to eliminate 98% of tariffs in a marketplace worth close to $14tn.</s>Eleven countries aiming to forge an Asia-Pacific trade pact after the United States pulled out of an earlier version will sign an agreement in Chile in March, Japan's economy minister said on Tuesday, in a big win for Tokyo.

Trade officials had been meeting in Tokyo to resolve rifts including Canada's insistence on protections for its cultural industries such as movies, TV and music.

An agreement is a win for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, which has been lobbying hard to save the pact, originally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

In one of his first acts as U.S. president in January 2017, Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the original 12-nation treaty.

Abe has painted the deal as a spur to growth and reform in Japan and a symbol of commitment to free and multilateral trade at a time when Trump stresses "America First" policies.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the agreement the "right deal."

Canada's trade minister said in a statement it included an improved arrangement on autos with Japan and the suspension of intellectual property provisions that had been a concern.

The timing of the deal is significant for Canada, which is trying to diversify its exports. U.S., Canadian and Mexican negotiators opened a key week-long round of talks to modernize NAFTA on Tuesday.

Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), or TPP-11, would be an "engine to overcome protectionism" emerging in parts of the world.

He added Japan would explain the importance of the deal to Washington in hopes of persuading it to join.

Ministers from the 11 countries, including Japan, Australia and Canada, agreed in November on core elements to move ahead without the United States, but demands by countries including Canada for measures to ensure the deal protects jobs blocked a final agreement.

"This outcome reaffirms the CPTPP countries' collective commitment towards greater trade liberalization and regional integration," Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last week the new agreement would leave a door open for eventual U.S. participation.

Canada, which wanted protection of its cultural industries, and Vietnam, which has worried about labor protection rules, will exchange separate side letters with other members on those topics at the time of the signing, Motegi said.
The 11 remaining countries aiming to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the Unites States' withdrawal announce that they will sign an agreement in Chile this March.