Revived TPP to be signed in March

A version of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) – without the US – is to be signed in March in what represents a diplomatic coup for Japan, which has worked hard to revive the project.

The future of the TPP seemed doomed last year when President Trump announced the US withdrawal from the deal. But the remaining 11 countries will now sign up to a new version of the TPP following talks this week.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TPP (CPTPP) will be signed in Chile this March, Reuters reports. The revised agreement will cover 12.9% of the world’s gross domestic product and 14.9% of global trade, according to Nikkei Asian Review.

The US will not be part of the CPTPP, but Australia’s Finance Minister has said he hopes this position will change, reports CNBC. “We’d like to think that, over time, the US would want a piece of the action,” Mathias Cormann said.

The 11 countries involved in the CPTPP are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Despite the absence of the US, the agreement will ‘prove an economic and political force in its own right’ according to Bloomberg, which also highlights how the CPTPP will help Japan check China and shore up the rules-based economic order.