Ministers meeting in Vietnam have agreed ‘core elements’ of the deal after hard lobbying by Australia and Japan

Leading Pacific Rim nations have announced the salvaging of a trade pact that US president Donald Trump abandoned in one of his first acts in office.



The remaining 11 countries, including Japan, Australia, Mexico and Malaysia, said they had revived the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, a multilateral agreement championed under the Obama administration.



Ministers meeting in Danang, Vietnam agreed on the “core elements” of what was now called the comprehensive and progressive agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a joint statement read.

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It said that the ministers maintained “the high standards, overall balance and integrity of the TPP while ensuring the commercial and other interests of all participants and preserving our inherent right to regulate, including the flexibility of the parties to set legislative and regulatory priorities.”

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Vietnam’s trade minister, Tran Tuan Anh, said the ministers had “reached an agreement on a number of fundamental parts.”

He said the ministers had “overcome the hardest part”. It was not clear if the countries’ leaders would formally endorse the agreement or when it would be implemented.

TPP took seven years to negotiate and was drafted in part to counter China’s dominance in Asia. Japan and Australia had lobbied hard for the agreement, which aims to eliminate trading barriers and tariffs on industrial and farm products across the 11-nation bloc whose trade totalled $356bn last year.

Rescuing the pact, which had appeared moribund after Trump ditched it two days after being sworn into the presidency, was not a certainty.

Negotiating leaders had agreed to meet on Friday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) conference in Vietnam. But an empty seat reserved for Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, led to accusations that he had reneged.

Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) At #APEC2017, Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm & I spoke about the #TPP and the benefits of reaching a trade deal that is fair for all countries involved. pic.twitter.com/hTdDQxqeV1

Canadian trade minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, blamed “a misunderstanding about the schedule” for Trudeau’s absence while adding that auto sector and cultural protection were areas needing more work.

As the second biggest economy among remaining TPP countries after Japan, Canada had said it wanted to ensure an agreement that would protect jobs. “There is a lot of work left to be done but I think we have made good progress today,” Champagne told reporters in Vietnam late on Friday.

Saturday’s statement said a “limited set of provisions” from the original deal would be suspended, adding further technical work was needed on four areas that still needed consensus “to prepare finalised text for signature”.



It did not say when that might happen.

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Canada’s position has been further complicated by the fact that it is simultaneously renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with the Trump administration.



In an openly-irate speech on Friday, the US president railed against international trade deals, blaming them for America job losses and accusing Asian countries of ignoring them in “violations, cheating or economic aggression”.

Play Video 2:09 Donald Trump launches tirade against 'unfair trade imbalance' at Apec summit - video

He said the US would no longer “enter into large agreements that tie our hands” but focus on country-to-country agreements. The speech was a glaring contrast to that of Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who spoke directly after to say “openness brings progress”.

Trump’s distaste for multilateralism also stalled a usually-routine Apec joint statement, which was released on Saturday three days later than planned because the US wanted to change the language.

While the statement still referred to free and open trade, it also mentioned fair trade and called for members to improve “adherence to rules agreed upon.”

Australia will still walk away from the Apec summit with a free trade pact with Peru that will eliminate nearly all tariffs exporters face into the Latin American country.



The Peru agreement is a significant boost for Australia’s sugar industry, farmers and mining services firms.

– AAP, AP and Reuters contributed to this report