Singapore supports joint efforts to push ahead with TPP

THE 11 remaining nations involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal have agreed to go ahead with the TPP without the United States.

The 11 signatories met on Sunday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting for trade ministers in Hanoi, where they agreed to "assess options to bring the ... agreement into force expeditiously", they said in a joint statement.

"Singapore supports the joint efforts by the 11 to sustain the TPP," said Minister of Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang. "It is important that we keep up momentum. Singapore will participate constructively in this collective process to harvest the TPP's benefits."

The US was originally involved in the TPP until Donald Trump assumed the presidency and withdrew from it, citing the pact as a bad deal for US manufacturing.