Reports of the death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal have been greatly exaggerated.
There was a plethora of stories following the withdrawal of the United States from the trade pact that suggested the agreement was dead.
However, trade ministers from the remaining 11 countries that formed the TPP as well as representatives from the U.S. and China met in Chile in March to talk about how to salvage the deal.
At that meeting, Canada offered to host the next gathering in Toronto, which occurred earlier this month under a veil of secrecy.
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Canadian International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne was forced to speak to reporters about the gathering after Japanese media broke the story that the meeting was taking place.
“It shows that Canada is front and centre when it comes to trade in the Asia-Pacific region,” he was quoted as saying in an iPolitics story.
“(We’re) very happy that the talks are progressing.”
Champagne said the next meeting will be held in Vietnam in November in conjunction with the 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Brian Innes, president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, is thrilled that there is an effort afoot to resuscitate the agreement because it would be beneficial for agricultural exporters.
“What I heard new out of the discussions in Toronto is that there is a real interest in charting a path forward with the 11 countries that are remaining in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement,” he said.
“What we’ve seen is there has been a lot of positive momentum.”
Innes is pleased that Canada is playing a leadership role in what has been dubbed TPP-11.
“(Champagne) has indicated clearly that it’s Canada’s interest to have a path forward to more open and stable trade in the Asia-Pacific,” he said.
Innes said gaining unfettered access to Japan would be the big win for Canadian agricultural exporters in a revitalized TPP deal.
CAFTA would like to see the remaining 11 countries adopt the framework of the existing agreement that all TPP countries signed in February 2016.
“There was a lot of work that went into the agreement so, yes, the best way forward would be to adopt what has already been negotiated,” said Innes.
Canada would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of TPP-11, accor-ding to a recent blog by the Canada West Foundation.
“Canada does better defensively in not having to worry about competitors gaining access to the U.S. market,” it said. “Canada also appears to stand to gain the most from the TPP going ahead without the U.S. as its companies, but not American firms across the border, will have preferential access to the new bloc.”
