The 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement will be implemented on December 30, 2018. Six legislatures of member states have ratified the pact. The trade deal takes effect 60 days after at least six countries complete the ratification process. Nicknamed the TPP-11, the agreement was once known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership but was formally renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership last year.

Australia notified New Zealand that it has ratified the agreement. Mexico, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada had already completed the procedures. Vietnam's parliament is expected to approve the deal by mid-November. Once the trade pact comes into force, a TPP committee of ministerial-level officials from member states will meet and decide on needed steps for countries hoping to join, such as Thailand and the U.K.

TPP-11 will lower tariffs on agricultural and industrial goods, as well as unify rules for business. Tariffs on 99.9 per cent of Japan's industrial products and 98.5 per cent of its farm, forestry and seafood products will eventually be abolished. Tariffs on agricultural products exported from Australia and New Zealand to Japan will also go down.