Summary: Just three days into his administration, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnernship (TPP), calling it a "ridiculous trade deal". Most assume the deal, wgucg established common trade, communications, and legal standards between 12 countries in the Pacific Rim, is now dead without the support of the United States, but challenging US global leadership, the 11 remaining countries - led by Japan - are forging ahead regardless. As Trump heightens fears of a trade war by imposing steel and aluminium tariffs, a revamped version of the TPP is signed in Santiago, Chile, sending a powerful message that free trade can go ahead without the US. The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnernship - or TPP+11 for short - includes Canada, Mexico, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Peru, New Zealand, Chile, Brunai, Singapore and Vietnam in a deal that will dramatically lower tariffs and trade barriers between the signatories. Together, they cover 500 million people in the most dynamic region of the world economy, which includes more than 13 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), worth more than 10 trillion dollars. With the US, it would have been 40 percent, but the new TPP is already attracting potential new members, like South Korea, Indonsia, the Philippines, Thailand and possibly even a post-Brexit United Kingdom. A free trade deal once viewed by Washington and Japan as a counter weight to China’s growing economic might, is now being hailed as an antidote to U.S. protectionism. Four of the signatories of the new deal talk to Al Jazeera about free trade, Trump, and their hopes for the future. More from Talk To Al Jazeera on: YouTube - http://aje.io/ttajYT Facebook - http://facebook.com/talktoaj Twitter - http://twitter.com/talktoaljazeera Website - http://www.aljazeera.com/talktojazeera/ - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/
