Another blow to Obama’s TPP after Vietnam says it won’t ratify trade pact and Australia looks to China

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Workers on a garment production line on the outskirts of Hanoi. Vietnam was projected to see the biggest percentage boost to the economy of any country in the TPP – about 10 per cent by 2030, mostly thanks to textiles and apparel. File photo: AFP

Published: 1:22pm, 17 Nov 2016Updated: 4:57pm, 17 Nov 2016

The United States-led Pacific trade pact appears to be crumbling after Vietnam said it would not ratify it and Australia signalled support for Chinese-led trade deals before a meeting this weekend of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group in Peru.

Vietnam’s prime minister said his country will shelve ratification of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) accord due to political changes ahead in the United States, but wants to maintain good relations with Washington.

The TPP, the signature economic policy of US President Barack Obama’s Asia-Pacific rebalance, looks increasingly uncertain with a Republican Congress and an incoming president Donald Trump who had called the agreement a “disaster”.

“The United States has announced it suspends the submission of TPP to the parliament so there are not sufficient conditions for Vietnam to submit its proposal for ratification,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the National Assembly Thursday.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the TPP won’t be ratified. File photo: EPA

Vietnam was projected to see the biggest percentage boost to the economy of any country in the TPP – about 10 per cent by 2030, mostly thanks to textiles and apparel.