After eight years of negotiations, 12 Pacific-rim nations have agreed upon the largest free-trade agreement in history. The agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), will set common labour, environmental and legal standards among all signatories, as well as remove significant trade tariffs in the region.
The final document will take a number of months to create, and will be followed by a three-month period for the 12 countries to read through and agree upon the final document. US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has vowed to defeat the agreement in the Senate when given the opportunity.
Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb is excited about the prospect of the TPP, and said that he believes it will deliver “unprecedented new opportunities in the rapidly growing Asia-Pacific region, with its rising middle class, for our businesses, farmers, manufacturers and service providers.”
Covering 40 per cent of the global economy, the 12 countries that will become signatories to the TPP are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.
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