Peru to work with China, others on TPP alternative : president
Reuters | 24 January 2017
Peru to work with China, others on TPP alternative : president
Peru will work with China and other Asian and Pacific Rim countries to incorporate elements of the Trans-Pacific Partnership into a new agreement after the United States pulled out, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on Tuesday.
Australia and New Zealand said they would try to salvage TPP by encouraging China and other Asian countries to join because new U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday withdrawing from the pact.
"We are going to take the best things out of TPP and get the not-so-good stuff out," Kuczynski said on broadcaster RPP, explaining rules involving the sale of pharmaceuticals could be altered.
Besides Peru, fellow Latin American countries Chile and Mexico had also been part of the 12-nation agreement. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said he would fight for trade with NAFTA partners Canada and the United States and seek bilateral deals with countries that signed the TPP.
Mexico would also work more closely with other Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, Pena Nieto said on Monday.
Chile, meanwhile, has invited ministers from other TPP members and China and South Korea to a summit in March to discuss how to proceed, Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz said on Monday. He said Chile would continue to pursue bilateral and other regional trade deals.
(Reporting By Mitra Taj ; Writing by Caroline Stauffer ; editing by Grant McCool)
