FIT-P flexible trade pact gains momentum as 21 ministers meet in NZ, membership expands to 19

A New Model for Global Trade Cooperation

The Future of Investment and Trade Partnership (FIT-P), now comprising 19 members and growing, is championing open and fair trade at a time when many nations are retreating from global engagement.

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 FIT-P initiative. The meeting went largely unnoticed but deserves greater attention.

What Is FIT-P?

FIT-P is an innovative trade arrangement in which members agree to collaborate on:

• Strengthening supply chains
• Removing non-tariff barriers
• Integrating new technologies
• Facilitating investment

While its economic heft may not be giant, this new group—representing close to 20 percent of global goods trade—is creating new models for cooperation and building economic resilience in today's turbulent trade environment.

Origins and Growth

Launched in September 2025, the global initiative was spearheaded by four trade-dependent countries: Singapore, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates. Each core member quietly recruited some of their usual economic partners, and FIT-P debuted with 14 members, including:

• Chile
• Morocco
• Norway
• Uruguay
• Rwanda
• Brunei

In just 10 months, five new members have joined:

• Malaysia and Paraguay (November)
• South Korea, Peru, and Thailand (at the recent Auckland meeting)

Samoa and Fiji also attended the Auckland meeting as observers.

Why the Momentum?

This growth reflects a growing interest among many countries in pursuing new instruments and new ways of working together amid today's global trade challenges. It also supports a renewed emphasis on trade diversification—a key pillar of many countries' economic security and resilience strategies.

This does not mean these countries are necessarily moving away from the major economies of the United States, China, or the EU. Rather, it reflects the reality that relying on one or two baskets is no longer the best strategy for sustained economic growth.

A Different Kind of Trade Agreement

The world's biggest economies are not part of FIT-P, and the initiative may not grab headlines with new tariff rates or rules. This is by design—and possibly part of its appeal.

FIT-P focuses on bringing small and medium-sized economies together to tackle modern trade challenges in creative, practical ways and to enhance investment flows. Smaller countries are often nimbler, adapt more quickly, and are more outward-looking. While not free from protectionist tendencies, they generally recognize that they cannot solve all their problems or reach their full economic potential without access to foreign markets and inputs.

Unlike a traditional free trade agreement, FIT-P has no legally binding obligations, and countries are not trading market access commitments. Instead, it is designed as a dynamic platform where members pledge to adhere to the rules-based trading system and collaborate on specific, practical initiatives that facilitate trade and investment.

Flexibility by Design

Importantly, countries can pick and choose which specific FIT-P initiatives they join. At launch, founding members described their approach using words like "agile," "flexible," and "adaptable"—not the usual terms for trade agreements.

Reflecting this approach, the Auckland meeting concluded with three separate declarations on practical steps to:

1. Tackle non-tariff barriers
2. Harness digital technology to facilitate trade
3. Build economic resilience to address economic security risks

Various members signed up to each declaration separately.

A Model for the Future?

This flexible approach may well represent the direction of future trade cooperation, especially given the difficulties the World Trade Organization (WTO) faces in concluding agreements. While subsets of WTO members have pursued plurilateral agreements on specific topics—such as digital and investment facilitation—these have met serious challenges in Geneva.

FIT-P reverses this sequence. Its members recognize from the outset that not everyone will join all commitments—and that is part of the deal. This reflects a more practical way forward, ensuring that those not ready to move forward on certain commitments do not hold back those who are.

The FIT-P group also provides a new forum for countries that support open and rules-based trade to meet, discuss the latest developments and challenges in the global trading order, and coordinate their responses.