Fate of TPP, without the US, remains up in the air

Da Nang, Vietnam

THE future of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is still highly uncertain, even as the 11 remaining nations are trying their best to salvage the mega free trade deal after the abrupt withdrawal of the United States earlier this year.

The chief negotiators and trade ministers from the so-called "TPP-11" countries are now in the Vietnamese seaside resort of Da Nang for a series of meetings, ahead of a planned summit of the TPP leaders on Friday.

After US President Donald Trump yanked the world's largest economy out of the TPP in one of his administration's first acts, it is Japan who has been lobbying hard to reach an agreement on the sidelines of this week's Asia-Pacific Economic C…