The United States has agreed to join Singapore, New Zealand, Chile and Brunei in a free trade agreement which could set the pace for a broader Asia-Pacific free trade area, officials said.
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab is expected to announce Washington's decision to participate in the "Comprehensive Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement" at a meeting Monday with ministers from the four countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the officials said.
"I can confirm that the US will join," a US administration official told AFP.
The agreement, the first trade pact involving a group of Pacific Rim countries, was signed between Singapore, Chile and New Zealand in 2005 before Brunei joined it a year later.
It was commonly known as the "P4" group with a broad objective to tear down trade barriers among participants within a decade, officials said.
The US decision to join the agreement will give impetus to a long term initiative within the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to forge a Free Trade Agreement of the Asia Pacific, officials said.