A dozen Pacific Rim nations officially sign Trans-Pacific Partnership

A dozen Pacific Rim nations officially sign Trans-Pacific Partnership. February. 05, 2016 09:09. by 세종=신민기기자 minki@donga.com. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the biggest multinational trade deals ever, has been officially signed in New Zealand on Thursday local time. The Korean government will decide whether to sign the trade pact within this year after internal discussions.

　

The members of the pact had an official signing with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman at the Sky City convention center in Auckland. The TPP can become effective only after each member country ratifies the pact. The TPP led by the U.S. in an attempt to eliminate trade and investment barriers in the Asia Pacific area involves 12 countries: the U.S., Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

The Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry of Korea unveiled the analysis of the TPP on Thursday. “It has a similar level to the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement in general. As Korea signs a free trade agreement with 10 countries, the TPP will have an only limited impact on the Korean economy over the short term,” the ministry said. “In the mid to long term, however, non-TPP member countries will be affected by the regulation of the TPP in trading with the member countries.”

The Institute for International Trade under the Korea Trade Association said in a report on the official signing of the TPP that if the TPP becomes effective, the GDP and exports of Korea, a non TPP member country, will decrease by 0.3 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively. “If the TPP becomes effective, Korea will be negatively affected in the mid to long term as the benefits that it enjoyed based on the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement will be eroded and the products of Japan, a TPP member country, will replace Korean products,” The association said.