The chief negotiators of the 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership countries agreed Thursday to aim to put the regional free trade deal into force under a new framework, following the withdrawal of the United States.
"The TPP was originally signed by 12 members so for the pact to come into effect with 11 countries, we need a new international agreement," Japan's chief negotiator Kazuyoshi Umemoto told reporters after chairing a two-day meeting at a hot spring resort southwest of Tokyo.
"We now have an image of how that agreement will be shaped."