Amid fears of a looming trade war and rising protectionism, finally some good news for free trade advocates.<br />Eleven countries are set to put pen to paper on a mega-free trade deal in the coming hours.<br />Kim Hyesung reports. <br /> A year after the U.S. withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the eleven remaining countries are due to sign a new agreement on Thursday in Chile. <br />The deal, rebranded as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), was revamped last year after eleven countries, including Japan, Australia and Canada agreed to keep the trade pact. <br /> Chile's top trade negotiator, Felipe Lopeandia, said the group moving forward after President Trump's retreat will "send a political signal to the world and to the U.S. itself, that this is a global agreement."<br />The CPTPP drops around 20 clauses from the TPP, mainly over intellectual property regulations that had been demanded by the U.S.<br />Washington's exit means a downsizing of the original trade pact which with U.S. involvement represented around 28 trillion U.S. dollars, or one-third of world trade. <br /> The eleven remaining states represent over 13 percent of the world economy and 500 million people, greater than the European Union. <br />The deal, which aims to cut import taxes to foster trade, will go into effect 60 days after it's ratified by at least six member countries. <br />South Korea is not a member of the CPTPP.<br /> But it has bilateral free trade deals with nine of the CPTPP members, other than Japan and Mexico.<br />Seoul's trade ministry says it will closely look into the CPTPP, analyze its economic effect and decide whether it will join by the end of this year. <br /> The ministry added that it's looking into joining the Pacific Alliance trade bloc including Mexico, Chile, Peru and Columbia.<br />Kim Hyesung, Arirang News. <br />
