Pacific Money | Economy

New Global Trade Arrangement Gains Momentum – And It’s Worth Watching

The Future of Investment and Trade Partnership, with 19 members and counting, is championing open and fair trade at a time when others are retreating.

Ministers and delegates pose for a group photo at the Future of Investment and Trade Partnership meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, July 17, 2026.

On July 17, an important meeting on global trade and economic cooperation took place in New Zealand: Ministers and delegates from 21 countries across Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East and Africa gathered to advance work on the Future of Investment and Trade Partnership (FIT-P). The meeting went largely unnoticed but deserves more attention.

FIT-P – an innovative trade arrangement where members agree to collaborate on strengthening supply chains, removing non-tariff barriers, integrating new technologies, and facilitating investment – is growing its membership, creating new models for cooperation, and building economic resilience in today’s turbulent trade world. Its economic heft may not be giant but this new group, representing close to 20 percent of global goods trade, is championing open and fair trade at a time when others are retreating. 

Launched in September 2025, this global initiative was spearheaded by four trade-dependent countries: Singapore, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates. Each of these core members quietly recruited some of their usual economic friends, and FIT-P landed on the world stage with 14 members, including Chile, Morocco, Norway, Uruguay, Rwanda and Brunei, which are eager to try something new.

In the course of just 10 months, five new members have joined: Malaysia and Paraguay in November, and South Korea, Peru, and Thailand signing on at the recent Auckland meeting. Samoa and Fiji also attended the Auckland meeting as observers.

This momentum reflects a growing interest on the part of many countries in reaching for new instruments and new ways of working together in the midst of the myriad of global trade challenges countries face today. It also supports the new emphasis on trade diversification – a key pillar of many countries’ economic security and economic resilience strategies today. It doesn’t mean that these countries are necessarily moving away from the big economies of the United States, China, or the EU; rather it embodies the realities of today that having all your eggs in one or two baskets is not the best strategy for sustained economic growth.  

The world’s biggest economies are not a part of FIT-P, and this initiative may not be grabbing the headlines with new tariff rates or rules. In fact that is by design and possibly also part of its attraction. Its focus is on bringing small and medium-sized economies together to tackle the trade challenges of a modern world in creative and practical ways and enhance investment flows. Smaller countries are often nimbler, can adapt more quickly, and are more outward looking in their approach. This is not to say they are free from protectionist tendencies, but they........

© The Diplomat