On January 21-22, 2018, trade officials met in Tokyo to finalize the renegotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). As previously reported, TPP negotiations began in 2008 with the aim of providing economic integration across the twelve countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, and the TPP was signed during the closing months of the Obama Administration in February 2016. When President Trump withdrew from the TPP in early 2017, however, the remaining eleven nations—Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam (the TPP-11)—ultimately decided to pursue renegotiations of a similar deal, absent the United States. January’s Tokyo meeting successfully finalized the TPP-11 agreement, which is now set to be signed in March at a ceremony in Chile.
In November 2017, the TPP-11 countries reached an agreement on “core elements” of the renegotiated agreement. The Tokyo talks were designed to address outstanding issues, which included, for example, Canadian concerns regarding trade in automobiles and protections for Intellectual Property rights. These issues were resolved in the January meeting, with Canada’s Minister of International Trade issuing the following statement:
Today, I am pleased to announce that Canada and the 10 other remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership concluded discussions in Tokyo, Japan, on a new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). We are happy to confirm the achievement of a significant outcome on culture as well as an improved arrangement on autos with Japan, along with the suspension of many intellectual property provisions of concern to Canadian stakeholders.
President Trump has now stated, however, that he would reconsider the United States’ participation in the agreement “if we were able to make a substantially better deal.” With the signing date planned for March, however, it may be difficult for the United States to rejoin. While Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stated that it would be possible to “re-admit a member like the United States, that chose to pull out,” he continued that he does not expect the United States to rejoin “any time soon. We’re certainly not counting on it.”
We will report on further developments regarding TPP-11 as the process moves forward.
