WELLINGTON — The Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the biggest regional trade deals ever, was signed by 12 member nations yesterday in New Zealand, but the agreement will still require months of tough negotiations before it becomes a reality.

The signing is “an important step” but the agreement “is still just a piece of paper, or rather over 16,000 pieces of paper until it actually comes into force”, said New Zealand Prime Minister John Key at the ceremony in Auckland.

Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang, who was at the signing ceremony, said that “the signing of the TPP agreement marks an important milestone for regional trade liberalisation … The new and updated trade rules under the TPP will assure Singapore investors and businesses of a more open, predictable and transparent regional marketplace.”

“We look forward to the TPP’s ratification as soon as possible, so that our businesses can benefit from increased trade and investment opportunities,” said Mr Lim, adding that Singapore expects the TPP to enter into force within two years, once all 12 countries are ready.

In Singapore, ratification will take place once the agreement is approved by the Cabinet, and any legislative changes that may be required are approved by the Parliament.

The TPP, which covers 40 per cent of the world economy, took five years of negotiations to reach the signing stage. It will now undergo a two-year ratification period in which at least six countries — which account for 85 per cent of the combined gross domestic production of the 12 TPP nations — must approve the final text for the deal to be implemented.

The 12 nations are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

Dr Deborah Elms, executive director of the Singapore-based Asian Trade Centre, told TODAY that if all 12 nations move quickly, the TPP could come into force within 60 days of the last member state completing its procedures, and this means that the TPP could be launched this year or early next year.

In an emailed response, she noted that TPP nations “created a second mechanism to bring the agreement into force — as long as at least Japan and the US and four other members have finished (ratification) procedures, the deal starts automatically in April 2018”.

The American and Japanese economies together account for almost 80 per cent of output for countries that signed the agreement, which will set common standards on issues ranging from workers’ rights to intellectual property protection in the Pacific rim.

Dr Elms said that in Tokyo, “it looks relatively smooth to get the TPP through the Japanese Diet (Parliament)”, especially if the motion is moved ahead of the Upper House elections in the middle of this year.

“The problem is mostly inside the US, where there is deep uncertainty about the wisdom of trade agreements and the benefits of globalisation,” she said, adding that this will be an issue that the presidential candidates will debate before elections are held in November.

“Neither (the Republican or Democratic) party currently has many candidates with strong statements of support for the TPP, so it is likely to be a tough battle to get (Congress) approval for the deal.”

To further complicate matters, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced earlier this week that he had “some problems” with the TPP, adding that it should not be pursued before the November election.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman has said the current administration is doing everything in its power to move the deal, and yesterday told reporters he was confident the deal would get the necessary support in Congress.

There is widespread grassroots opposition to the TPP in many countries. Opponents have criticised the secrecy surrounding TPP talks and raised concerns about reduced access to affordable medicine, among other issues. Doctors Without Borders yesterday called on the 800 million people living in TPP countries to urge their governments to reject the deal unless provisions that lock in high drug prices are removed.

Mr Alexander Capri, a Visiting Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School told TODAY via email that the issue of extending pharmaceutical patents to eight years for medicines was one of the major obstacles during the negotiations.

“This means generic, less expensive versions of their drugs would take more time to be mass produced and distributed to the poor. In Malaysia and Vietnam, there was a considerable amount of debate around this,” he noted.

Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the agreement would be tabled next week in Parliament. Opposition to the deal in Australia has been building, but Mr Robb was confident it would be approved.

Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said yesterday that “signing does not equal ratifying”. She emphasised that the government committed itself to a wide-ranging consultation on the TPP during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election campaign and that process was currently under way. The TPP was negotiated by the former Canadian government.

In a special parliamentary session last month, the Malaysian government agreed to ratify the deal, although some legislative changes are said to be needed. “I don’t think there is any danger of TPP not being ratified in any particular country, again, barring some sort of major economic, political or geopolitical destabilising events,” said Mr Capri of NUS.

“I think all of the difficult negotiations and obstacles have been hammered out.” AGENCIES WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ALBERT WAI