Canada Reaches Deal On Revised Trans-Pacific Partnership

Canada has agreed to a resurrected version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and will sign on to the deal, according to government sources

CBC News

The deal, renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, comes after talks in Japan this week with the 11 countries still committed to the deal.Canada was seen as the main holdout during talks in Vietnam last November.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked an international controversy when he didn’t sign an agreement in principle, arguing Canada had concerns about the pact’s culture and the automotive sectors.

“Canada was seen as a barrier during a trade talk in Vietnam last fall”

 

A Canadian official with close ties to the deal said Minister of International Trade Francois-Philippe Champagne spent the weekend, and into Monday night, speaking to his TPP counterparts on the phone.

The source said Canada made “real gains” on the pact’s labour and environment chapters, and suspended what the government saw as a problematic dispute settlement provisions.

Last week, Trudeau also appointed Ian McKay, chief executive of the Vancouver Economic Commission, as his special envoy to Japan.

Sources say he has a “deep knowledge” of how business works in the country and is fluent in Japanese.

NAFTA talks resume

Some assumed the original deal was dead when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it after assuming office.

But the remaining countries carried on with negotiating.

Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the new CPTPP would be an “engine to overcome protectionism” emerging in parts of the world and Japan would explain the importance of the deal to Washington in hopes of persuading it to join.

“This outcome reaffirms the CPTPP countries’ collective commitment towards greater trade liberalization and regional integration,” Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.

While signing the deal is a feather in Champagne’s hat, the deal comes the same day the sixth round of talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement kick off in Montreal.

This round is expected to be the most tense round of negotiating yet as Canada, the U.S. and Mexico dive into the most controversial chapters, including the auto and dairy sectors and a proposed sunset clause.