About 10 WTO members plan to create a new FIT-P association

World Trade Organization members including Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are preparing to launch a new grouping to boost “trade openness” as small and medium-sized countries seek to strengthen their own ties in the era of US President Donald Trump.

The new group, to be called the Future Investment and Trade Partnership, or FIT-P, is expected to bring together about 10 countries, the Financial Times reported. Singapore, the UAE and New Zealand are the main founders.

Potential members include Morocco, Rwanda, Malaysia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay and Norway, according to diplomats and government officials from Asia, Latin America and Australasia involved in the initiative.

The final list of members, which will focus on upholding “international trade rules”, has yet to be confirmed.

Among the main areas of work is a call for member countries to ensure equal treatment of paper and digital trade documents, which is considered key to improving trade efficiency. Some countries still do not recognize electronic documents.

The scheme, which the diplomat said will be officially presented next month, was developed against the background of the Trump administration undermining the global consensus on trade by concluding a series of hasty bilateral trade deals aimed at reducing US trade deficits.

So-called “napkin deals” with the EU, Japan and other key US partners have disrupted supply chains and called into question the effectiveness of the principle that guarantees equal treatment of all trading partners.

Officials involved in FIT-P stressed that the initiative is deliberately aimed at smaller countries to create a more flexible forum for agreeing positions on areas such as digital documents, recognition of electronic signatures and e-commerce rules.

Not all countries considering participation in FIT-P have made a final decision. Some are waiting for more information on specific benefits.

Tags: UAE, Singapore, New Zealand