November 17, 2016

Vietnam will shelve ratification of a US-led Pacific trade accord due to political changes ahead in the US, but wants to maintain good relations with Washington as much as it does all other countries, its prime minister said on Thursday.

Vietnam's legislature was almost certain to ratify the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreed last year but had deferred it until after the US presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump, whose protectionist agenda on the campaign trail has unnerved Asian economies.

The TPP, the signature economic policy of President Barack Obama's Asia-Pacific rebalance, looks increasingly uncertain with a Republican Congress and an incoming president who once called the agreement a "disaster."

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