Trans-Pacific free trade deal agreed creating vast partnership
The world's biggest ever trade deal was signed into existence on Monday.
It marks the end of five years of often bitter and tense negotiations.
Supporters say it could be worth billions of dollars to the countries involved but critics say it was negotiated in secret and is biased towards corporations.
The deal covers about 40% of the world economy and was signed after five days of talks in Atlanta in the US.
Despite the success of the negotiations, the deal still has to be ratified by lawmakers in each country.
For President Barack Obama, the trade deal is a major victory.
He said: ``This partnership levels the playing field for our farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers by eliminating more than 18,000 taxes that various countries put on our products."
But US Senator Bernie Sanders, a US Democratic presidential candidate, said: "Wall Street and other big corporations have won again."
He said the deal would would cost US jobs and hurt consumers and that he would "do all that I can to defeat this agreement" in Congress.
China left out
China was not involved in the agreement, and the Obama administration is hoping it will be forced to accept most of the standards laid down by TTP.He said: "When more than 95% of our potential customers live outside our borders, we can't let countries like China write the rules of the global economy.
"We should write those rules, opening new markets to American products while setting high standards for protecting workers and preserving our environment."
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters the deal was a "major outcome not just for Japan but also for the future of the Asia-Pacific" region.
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