Trans-Pacific trade talks inch closer to a deal
• 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 François-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 Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP),” the group announced in a communiqué.
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.”
Some media reports called the Saturday communiqué a major breakthrough, but a Canadian trade official reiterated only that some progress had been achieved.