CPTPP to Enter Into Force on Dec. 30

Australia has become the sixth country to ratify the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, so the trade pact will go into effect Dec. 30, 2018. A second round of tariff cuts will follow Jan. 1 for countries party to the agreement that follow a calendar tariff year; Japan's second round will happen April 1. Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, Chile and Brunei have yet to ratify the trade agreement; Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan, Singapore and now Australia have done so. The U.S. exited the TPP, the agreement's original name, three days after President Donald Trump took office in January 2017 (see 1810290044).