Hanoi (VNA) – One year after the US’swithdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the remaining 11Asia-Pacific countries, including Vietnam, have signed a new Comprehensive andProgressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to remove tariffbarriers in the region.

This is considered a move towards progressive,open and equal trade, without the threat of trade wars.

The signing of the CPTPP has delivered a strongmessage against protectionism, which is emerging across the world as a barrierto global trade growth.

The new deal also marks the endless efforts ofthe remaining 11 member countries to revive the TPP.

Japanese Minister ofState for Economic and Fiscal Policy Toshimitsu Motegi described theCPTPP as a historic achievement that creates free and fair rules inAsia-Pacific.

The deal not only benefits member countries butalso creates new momentum for regional economic-trade cooperation andconnection.

Many leaders from the 11 CPTPP nations havewelcomed the pact as a clear message of support for free trade andmultilateralism.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declaredthat the signing of the CPTPP is a commitment to global integration and astrong signal against protectionism. It is also an ambitious and strategicmultilateral cooperation deal in the context of globalisation.

Covering 500 million people on both sides of thePacific Ocean, the pact represents a new vision for global trade as the USimposes steel and aluminum tariffs on even some of its closest allies.

The New York Times quoted Wendy Cutler, a formerUnited States trade negotiator who worked on the Trans-Pacific Partnership assaying it’s hard for the US to ignore rules that other countries have agreedand must look carefully at these rules.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal posted astory titled “In America’s Absence, the TPP Goes On”, highlighting the survivalof the TPP, now CPTPP or TPP – 11, which will be a boon to traders inAustralia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,Singapore and Vietnam. 

The CPTPP is also the latest illustration thatother countries are accelerating efforts to conclude trade deals. 

The CPTPP was inked at a ceremony chaired byChilean President Micelle Bachelet in Chile on March 8, 2018.

Trade ministers of 11 countries participating inthe trade pact, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, NewZealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, attended the event. 

The ambitious deal came after the US pulled outof the TPP agreement last year. It sets high criteria in numerous fields,including labour, the environment, intellectual property, digital economy andcyber security.

The pact will create one of the world’s largestfree trade blocs with a combined market of 499 million people and GDP of about10.1 trillion USD, accounting for 13.5 percent of global GDP.-VNA