Canada to sign amended Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement following little NAFTA progress
With the US having withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) approximately one year ago following Donald Trump’s inauguration as President, the remaining 11 countries have now agreed to the signing of an amended agreement that will look to strengthen the trade pact.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that Canada and the 10 other remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership concluded discussions in Tokyo, Japan, on a new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP),” said François-Philippe Champagne, Canadian Minister of International Trade.
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Efforts to resurrect the deal have largely been stalled by Canada. However, in recent months the other member nations have swayed Justin Trudeau to agree to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) by sweetening the deal.
“Over the past year, we have also worked collaboratively with our partners to make the necessary changes so that the agreement builds real prosperity and creates opportunities,” Champagne continued. “We said from the beginning that we didn’t want just any deal; we wanted a good deal for Canada and for Canadians.”
The TPP represents over 494mn people and over $10tn of GDP – equating to 13% of global GDP.
The revised agreement comes amidst souring relations between the US and Canada, jeopardising the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Having stated that Canada was in no rush to make a decision on the TTP back in November, Justin Trudeau has now seemingly changed his mind in the wake of months of NAFTA renegotiations that have resulted in very little progress.
