TPP closer to reality
AGREEMENT MADE ON KEY CHANGES TO PACT
An agreement in principle on the Trans-Pacific Partnership appeared to inch closer to reality late Friday after a frenetic, confusing day of talks and media reports that bluntly blamed Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for helping to scuttle a scheduled meeting of leaders to discuss the Pacific Rim trade pact.
International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne summoned journalists just before midnight to say that the TPP trade ministers had agreed to a number of key changes that moved the talks closer to a deal. Canada is better off because of the new developments, Champagne said.
“We don’t settle for just any deal,” Champagne said, acknowledging Trudeau’s decidedly downbeat comments from a day earlier. “If it takes one more day, so be it.”
He said the TPP countries agreed to suspend controversial provisions from the original TPP deal related to intellectual property. Leaders in Canada’s tech sector have long pressed Ottawa to have those elements removed from the deal.
Champagne also said the partners established a framework to deal with rules of origin issues related to the auto sector and on how the countries will proceed with including cultural exemptions into the treaty.
The parties also agreed, he added, to enhance elements in the pact related to the environment and are much closer to stronger protections of labour rights.
“Ministers are pleased to announce that they have agreed on the core elements of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership (CPTPP),” the group announced in a communique.
They’ve agreed that the framework “maintains the high standards, overall balance and integrity of the TPP while ensuring the commercial and other interests of all participants and preserving our inherent right to regulate, including the flexibility of the parties to set legislative and regulatory priorities.”
The news capped a hectic day of developments that made it difficult to nail down just how well the talks were going.
On Thursday, Trudeau signalled Canada was in no hurry to sign on to a deal, notwithstanding media reports based on comments from Japan’s economy minister that said the parties were on the verge of an agreement in principle.
The next day, Trudeau failed to appear as scheduled for a meeting of the 11 TPP countries on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit — a meeting that was subsequently cancelled by the co-chair, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
He missed the meeting, Champagne explained, because an important bilateral meeting with Abe ran about 25 minutes longer than expected. Trudeau’s office said Abe, co-chair of the leaders’ meeting, cancelled the event after his 50-minute discussion with Trudeau.