Talks explore reviving Trans-Pacific trade pact

Negotiators and senior trade officials from 11 Pacific Rim nations gathered in Toronto on Tuesday to discuss whether it’s possible to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The goal of the preliminary talks, which conclude Wednesday, is to determine if their countries’ trade ministers should pursue a revival of the deal at a meeting in Vietnam later this month.

The TPP was thrown for a loop after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum formally withdrawing the U.S. from the multilateral trade agreement.

It was one of the first things Trump did after he was sworn into office.

The U.S. pullout makes it impossible to ratify the agreement as currently written.

The deal was to enter force once it had been ratified by six nations representing more than 85 per cent of the proposed trading bloc’s total gross domestic product.

The U.S. alone would have represented 60 per cent of the proposed bloc’s GDP.

The Toronto talks explore whether it’s possible to carve the U.S. out of the existing deal and build a new agreement around the remaining 11 nations, including Canada. Some call the deal that could emerge “TPP minus One.” Others call it “TPP 2.0.”

“It’s certainly a positive development for TPP to potentially move ahead without the U.S.,” said Greg Kanargelidis, leader of the international trade group at law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. “I know Japan is anxious to have this agreement in place. It makes sense that Canada would be an active participant.”

A March 2017 meeting of AsiaPacific Ministers generated a decision to revive talks among the remaining TPP signatories. Canada agreed to play host.

The talks in Toronto this week set the stage for further discussions at the ministerial level at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Vietnam later this month.

François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of international trade, is not attending the Toronto meeting because it is at the officials’ level.

“Canada is a strong supporter of progressive free trade and the Asia Pacific remains an important region and a priority market for our government,” a statement from the ministry said.

Keeping the TPP alive is not simply a matter of asking the 11 remaining nations to ratify the deal.

All trade agreements are the product of a balance of concessions between the participating countries.

Much of the current TPP text would reflect bargains that were struck to accommodate the U.S.