The much anticipated Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is one month away from completion, Thomas Donohue, CEO and President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told CNBC on Tuesday.
The U.S.-led deal has been under negotiation since 2010, and is designed to boost international trade relations by eliminating trade barriers among partner countries and enforcing higher standards of transparency.
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"I think we are getting close. The [U.S.] President will be able to announce, as will other world leaders, progress in the right direction [at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting], but my guess is that it's got another month in it," Donohue told CNBC Asia's Squawk Box on Tuesday.
Expectations had been building that President Barack Obama would announce the completion of the deal at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' meeting in Bali, Indonesia, which kicked off this week.
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While 12 countries have joined the free-trade negotiations, some of the world's largest economies including China and India are yet to join.
"The [TPP]... should go ahead because it's ready, prepared to go, it's almost there... it will fundamentally strengthen the economies in the Pacific region and it will have a very major effect on the players that really need help," said Donohue.
China's involvement in the deal has been particularly contentious given the tense relationship between the U.S. and the world's second-largest economy.
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Donohue confirmed that China was keen to get involved in the negotiations, but added that in his view the deal did not require China's participation to be successful.
"No (the TPP does not need China). China now wants to get in to the TPP and I can personally tell you that," he said.
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"The TPP is not exclusively closed to China... I actually think that down the road China might very well participate in the TPP," Nicholas Consonery, China analyst at Eurasia Group told CNBC on Tuesday.
In late May this year China's Commerce Ministry said it would study the possibility of joining the pact.
The United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore have all signed up for the TPP talks. South Korea was asked to join but declined for the time being.
— By CNBC's Katie Holliday: Follow her on Twitter @hollidaykatie