Australia has agreed to sign a revived version of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership with 10 other countries, meaning the massive trade deal is likely to go ahead despite the United States' withdrawal.
The 11 remaining countries are expected to sign a tweaked agreement on March 8 in Chile, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo has confirmed.
The TPP hit a major roadblock last year, when a newly elected US president Donald Trump pulled the US out of what he called a "horrible deal" for the "American worker".
The agreement is designed to promote free trade between the Pacific nations involved by lowering tariffs and encouraging cheaper movement of labour.
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull hailed a "big deal" that would create "thousands" of new Australian jobs, citing the warm reception from the Minerals Council, a mining lobby group, and the Farmers' Federation.
"We stuck with it," Mr Turnbull told reporters on Wednesday.
"Many people said it couldn't be done after the United States pulled out, after President Trump was elected. Nobody was more pessimistic about it, more lacking in enthusiasm, more lacking in confidence for the enterprise of Australians than Bill Shorten," the prime minister said.
Speaking from the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Mr Ciobo said the TPP was a "brilliant trade deal" for Australia.
The minister said a third of Australian exports went to the 10 countries involved and said the deal would eliminate 98 per cent of tariffs in a marketplace worth close to $14 trillion.
"It hasn't been easy, but we're finally at the finish line and Aussie businesses will be the big winners," he said.
Australian exporters will benefit from new free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, and greater market access to Japan, Chile, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
There's also a better deal for Australian cheese and beef exports into Japan and new quotas for rice and wheat. Australian sugar will also have better access to Japan, Canada and Mexico's markets.
The agreement was finalised at a meeting of trade officials in Tokyo on Tuesday, but still needs to be signed in Chile in March.
The deal would not take effect in Australia until it passes the federal parliament.
The "right deal" is how Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau describes the revised TPP. Source: AAP
Canada agrees to sign on, after changes
The remaining 11 nations have been in talks to revive the TPP since the US pulled out in early 2017.
Canada threw a spanner in the works at the APEC summit in Vietnam last year, failing to show up to a final meeting and derailing efforts to finalise the deal.
But Canada has since been coaxed back to the fold following lobbying efforts from Tokyo and Canberra, according to AAP.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the agreement the "right deal".
Canada's trade minister said the agreement was secured by an improved arrangement with Japan on cars, along with a suspension of certain intellectual property provisions that had been a concern.
Mr Ciobo said other countries may wish to join up once the TPP is in force.
There has been ongoing speculation Indonesia may be interested.
What is the TPP?
- The TPP 11 is made up of: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
- US President Donald Trump pulled America out of the deal a year ago after describing it as "a continuing rape of our country".
- It was a key policy of the Obama administration's so-called foreign policy pivot to Asia.
- Some opponents of the TPP fear it opens doors for companies to sue governments for changing policies if it harms their investments. The deal has a controversial investor state dispute settlement clause.
- China is not part of the TPP and is trying to get up a rival deal with seven TPP countries, including Australia, and eight others. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnershp is much narrower and less ambitious.
- with AAP
