WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND — Details of a revamped cross-Pacific pact aimed at slashing trade barriers were released Wednesday amid a renewed push for the US to rejoin the 11-nation deal.

New Zealand unveiled the official text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP-11, which had to be redrawn after Donald J. Trump rejected it last year just days into his presidency.

The nation’s Trade Minister David Parker said making it public would allow better scrutiny before it is formally signed in Santiago on March 8.

“New Zealand has been working hard to see the text made public as quickly as possible,” Mr. Parker said, adding that changes to the original document included the suspension of 22 items relating to areas such as intellectual property and taxpayer subsidized medicine.

Australian Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said the landmark agreement would eliminate more than 98% of tariffs in a trade zone with a combined GDP of some $13 trillion.

“The (Malcolm) Turnbull government wants to see this landmark agreement enter into force as soon as possible so Australian farmers, businesses and manufactures can enjoy its benefits,” he said.

The 11 TPP countries are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Together they account for about 13.5% of the global economy.

However, that figure would be closer to 40% if the United States was included, an outcome some lawmakers in Mr. Trump’s own Republican party are reportedly pushing for.

The Washington Post said on Tuesday that 25 Republican senators had written to Mr. Trump urging a rethink.

“We encourage you to work aggressively to secure reforms that would allow the United States to join the agreement,” they wrote in a letter cited by the newspaper.

“Increased economic engagement with the 11 nations currently in TPP has the potential to substantially improve the competitiveness of US businesses, support millions of US jobs, increase US exports, increase wages, fully unleash America’s energy potential, and benefit consumers.”

Mr. Trump has not ruled out a U-turn, despite referring to the TPP as “a disaster” during his election campaign, believing the accord would punish US workers by allowing companies to hire cheaper labor abroad.

In an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos last month he said the US would consider negotiating with the TPP bloc but “only if is in the interests of all.”

His predecessor Barack Obama believed the deal would set a higher standard for trade, including on health and the environment, and eventually entice China to play by the same rules. — AFP

WASHINGTON — Mike Pence and North Korean officials had planned to meet secretly during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, but Pyongyang scrapped the talks after the US vice-president denounced abuses from the “murderous regime,” US officials said Tuesday.

Mr. Pence did not interact with the North Koreans even though he was seated in the same box as them at the opening ceremony of the Games on Feb. 9 — nor did he shake hands with the North’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam during an earlier leaders’ reception.

The North Koreans, who had sent Kim Yong Nam and leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong to the Games, backed out of the planned meeting after Mr. Pence announced Washington would soon unveil its “toughest and most aggressive sanctions” against Pyongyang.

During his Asian tour, he also denounced the North’s nuclear drive and sought to shore up ties with regional allies — and longtime North Korean foes — Japan and South Korea.

Mr. Pence, who led the American delegation to the Games, said at the time he traveled with the father of late former prisoner Otto Warmbier to the South to “remind the world of the atrocities happening in North Korea.”

“North Korea would have strongly preferred the vice-president not use the world stage to call attention to those absolute facts or to display our strong alliance with those committed to the maximum pressure campaign,” Mr. Pence’s spokesman Nick Ayers said.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said only a “brief meeting” with leaders of the North Korean delegation had been on the table.

“The vice-president was ready to take this opportunity to drive home the necessity of North Korea abandoning its illicit ballistic missile and nuclear programs,” Ms. Nauert said in a statement.

“At the last minute, DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) officials decided not to go forward with the meeting. We regret their failure to seize this opportunity.”

‘MURDEROUS REGIME’
Mr. Ayers characterized the offer as the North having “dangled a meeting in hopes of the vice-president softening his message, which would have ceded the world stage for their propaganda during the Olympics.”

“As we’ve said from day one about the trip: this administration will stand in the way of Kim’s desire to whitewash their murderous regime with nice photo ops at the Olympics,” Mr. Ayers said.

“Perhaps that’s why they walked away from a meeting or perhaps they were never sincere about sitting down.”

Analysts say the North’s Olympic diplomatic drive sought to loosen international sanctions against it and undermine the alliance between Seoul and Washington.

Even as the US warned against falling for Pyongyang’s Olympic charm offensive, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued an invitation via his sister Kim Yo Jong, who was attending the Games, for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

But on his return trip from the Games, Mr. Pence said there was “no daylight” between the US, South Korea and Japan on efforts to isolate Pyongyang economically and diplomatically until it abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile program.

Washington calls it a campaign of “maximum pressure.”

Mintaro Oba, a former State Department diplomat specializing in the Koreas, tweeted that “it’s entirely possible that North Korea scheduled the reported secret meeting with VP Pence fully intending to cancel so that they could play the blame game.”

“Sudden cancellations/withdrawals are a well-established part of the North Korean playbook,” added Mr. Oba, now a speechwriter in Washington.

DENUCLEARIZATION FIRST
Global alarm at the rapid advance of nuclear-armed North Korea’s weapons technology rose further last year when the regime tested its Hwasong-15 ballistic missile — theoretically capable of hitting the mainland US — in a challenge to Washington, which has threatened to “utterly destroy” the regime in the event of an attack.

President Donald J. Trump and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un have engaged in a series of personal insults.

But as tensions rose between the North and Washington, the Games triggered a rapid reconciliation between the two Koreas, who are still technically at war.

“The president made a decision that if they wanted to talk, we would deliver our uncompromising message. If they asked for a meeting, we would meet,” Mr. Ayers said, referring to Trump.

“He also made clear that until they agreed to complete denuclearization we weren’t going to change any of our positions or negotiate.”

Woodrow Wilson Center vice-president Aaron David Miller, a former advisor to Republican and Democratic diplomatic chiefs, highlighted the Trump administration’s conflicting messages on whether to talk or not with the North Koreans.

“Has the locked and loaded fire and fury Trump administration come to conclusion that it’s time to stop talking about North Korea and to start talking to them?” he asked. — AFP

HAVANA — Cuban President Raul Castro Tuesday received a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers Tuesday, who are visiting the island with the alleged “acoustic attacks” against US diplomats on their agenda.

“During the meeting they discussed matters of interest to both countries,” the Cuban government said in a statement.

The delegation, led by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, arrived in Cuba Sunday to address various issues including the mysterious supposed attacks in Havana.

The issue has hit US-Cuba relations, with Washington withdrawing half of its diplomats from Cuba and expelling 15 officials from the Cuban embassy in the US capital.

The Cuban foreign ministry’s US director, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, met with the congressmen Monday assuring them that “no evidence that attacks occurred against US diplomats in Cuba exists,” according to his deputy Johana Tablada.

Accompanying Mr. Leahy on the visit are senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Michigan’s Gary Peters, along with representatives Kathy Castor of Florida, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Susan Davis of California.

Mr. Leahy has been one of the most active politicians inside the Capitol in advocating the improvement of US-Cuba relations, which defrosted somewhat in 2014 under Barack Obama after half a century of tension.

The US delegation will end its stay in Cuba on Wednesday with a press conference.

At least 24 Americans, a mix of US embassy personnel and their dependents — suffered headaches, hearing loss, disorientation and some loss of cognitive ability between November 2016 and August 2017.

Some recovered from the most acute symptoms, but the severity, range and recovery time was mixed and it’s not yet clear whether any have suffered permanent injury.

US press reports suggest that FBI agents dispatched to Havana have been unable to find any evidence to support a theory that the staff were attacked with an acoustic or sonic weapon. — AFP