Peru ready to forge Pacific trade deal with Russia and China if US backs out

RFE/RL
Sat, 12 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC

© The Japan Times

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski

Peru's president told Russian Today that Pacific-rim countries should forge a new trade deal with China and Russia if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, as expected, scraps an agreement reached with President Barack Obama.

In the face of opposition from Trump and congressional Republicans, Obama on November 11 officially abandoned efforts to enact his 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which as written excludes China and Russia.

"It can be replaced with a similar deal, but without the United States," Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker and free-trade advocate, told RT on November 11. "I think it'd be best to have an Asia-Pacific deal that includes China, and includes Russia as well... It'd have to be a new negotiation."

Peru next week will host an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, bringing together heads-of state from China, Russia, the United States, and Japan for the first time since Trump's unexpected election on November 8.

Obama plans to inform the other leaders that the trade deal's fate now rests in the hands of Trump, who campaigned on trashing the deal. China already is pushing an alternative to Obama's agreement.

Comment: Doesn't sound like any of the other partners are going to miss the US much, in fact, they are starting to flock to Russia and China.

See also: Obama gives up on passing TPP before Trump takes office