Vietnam to ratify Pacific trade pact

Vietnam said Thursday it will ratify a sprawling Pacific trade pact that US President Donald Trump pulled out of last year, calling the deal a “disgrace” for American jobs.

The 11 remaining countries agreed to push ahead with a watered-down version without the world’s largest economy, rebranding the pact as the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership).

Vietnam, an export-based manufacturing economy that stood to gain enormously from unfettered access to the US market, said lawmakers would ratify the deal next month.

He said the “important deal” would help Vietnam respond to global economic trends that have been “complicated with the rise of protectionism in major economies,” in a veiled reference to the US.

Vietnam and Japan – which has lobbied hard to keep the deal alive – last month urged the United States to re-join the sprawling trade pact, whose original signatories would have covered 40 percent of the global economy. (AFP)