Canada’s revolt overshadows early effectuation of new TPP

November 12, 2017

Da Nang, Vietnam- Ministers from 11 countries, including Japan, have managed to reach a broad accord on a new Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal without the United States, which walked out of the original 12-nation pact in January.

But it remains unclear whether the new 11-member pact will go into effect at an early date, in the wake of a revolt by Canada, a key member, which led to the cancellation of a summit among the nations.

At a two-day meeting in Danang, central Vietnam, through Thursday, ministers from the 11 countries were believed to have clinched a broad accord on the new free trade pact, with Japanese economic revitalization minister Toshimitsu Motegi declaring the success of the ministerial meeting.

Hours later, however, Canadian Minister of International Trade Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Twitter, "Despite reports, there is no agreement in principle on TPP."

At a meeting on Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, to attend the 11-nation summit planned to be held in Danang on the same day following the ministerial meeting.

But Trudeau rejected the request, and the summit did not take place. Some media reports said that the broad accord on the new TPP was on the verge of collapse following Canada's revolt.

The ministers met again from Friday evening and managed to reconfirm the broad agreement.

At a press conference on Saturday, Motegi and Vietnamese Industry and Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh, who co-chaired the ministerial sessions, announced a statement showing the broad accord.

The statement said that the new pact, called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, "maintains the high standards, overall balance and integrity" of the original pact.

Still, Motegi regretted Canada's action at the press conference, saying: "There was an incident. An unexpected thing happened." Jiji Press