The Council of Ministers had issued a statement saying it intended to sign eventually, but not until it had a more thorough look at the 1000 page document - the text of which has only just been made public.
He said there had also been strong local opposition to the deal from NGOs, churches and MPs.
RNZI reports the two biggest nations in the Pacific, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, are not currently part of PACER Plus, with Fiji saying it wants to renegotiate parts of it.
