Canada and the Trans-Pacific Partnership
* Executive Summary * * To succeed in future global trade, the Trans-Pacific Partnership will expand on existing tree trade agreements to address 21st century issues. The TPP will create a standardized platform on which countries will effectively operate. The TPP will focus on issues such as barriers to trade, the digital sphere, privacy laws, and green technologies. The TPP also hopes to act as a bridge to improve trade and investment from Asia. * Membership in the TPP will prove to be very important for the Canadian economy. This free trade agreement will help to drive production and competition by opening up a global marketplace. Membership in the TPP will also present Canada with several issues. Current TPP members, mainly the United States and New Zealand, are adamant that Canada’s supply management of agricultural sectors be open for discussion. Canada’s relatively lenient laws with copyright protection will also be looked at. While many support protecting Canada’s current laws, many see this as an opportunity to re-define trade and abolish an outdated system for stabilizing the farming industry. * 15 rounds of negotiations have occurred, and we can only speculate what will materialize. Many questions remain in regards to Canada’s supply management as well as if Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and China will join the discussions. * * * What is the TPP? * The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a free trade agreement formed in 2007 that seeks to further expand the “flow of goods, services and capital across boarders.” The TPP has expanded on the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (P4). 11 countries are currently in negotiations for the TPP, including Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico, the United States and Canada. The members have a “combined population of 658 million people and combined GDP of $20.5 trillion”. All TPP
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