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 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. 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. 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. 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.
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.