Vietnam yesterday became the seventh country to ratify a Pacific trade pact set to take effect next month, despite US President Donald Trump's pullout from a deal he decried as a "job killer".

Eleven countries revived a slimmed-down version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without the US, though the new pact keeps the door open in case of a change of heart - or government - in the world's largest economy.

Australia last month became the sixth country to ratify the now-renamed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), paving the way for the pact to come into force at the end of December with more than half of its members officially signed on...

This was excerpted from the 13 November 2018 edition of The Straits Times.