Background and additional links

This page serves as a tool kit for Canadians interested in learning more about the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and potential accession negotiations.

Background

The CPTPP is a multilateral free trade agreement between Canada and 10 other Asia-Pacific nations: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The 11 CPTPP parties signed the agreement on March 8, 2018, in Santiago, Chile. The agreement entered into force for Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore on December 30, 2018, and for Vietnam on January 14, 2019. For the remaining CPTPP signatories—Brunei, Chile, Malaysia and Peru—the CPTPP will enter into force 60 days after they have completed their domestic ratification procedures.

The CPTPP covers virtually all aspects of trade between Canada and the CPTPP parties. It features:

• ambitious outcomes that set a new standard for rules on trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region and promote and reinforce Canada’s commitment to the rules-based international system and global free trade
• market access commitments that provide new or enhanced opportunities for a broad range of Canadian industries and sectors, including aerospace, agriculture, fish and seafood, forestry, industrial manufacturing, information and communications technologies, metals and minerals, as well as environmental, financial, and professional services; and government procurement
• a comprehensive set of investment protection measures backed by a robust mechanism for resolving investment disputes
• simplified procedures for clearing goods through customs, including by making specific commitments to enhance transparency
• comprehensive commitments that address challenges and issues faced by Canadians in the contemporary global economy, such as non-tariff barriers and state-owned enterprises, to help level the playing field and promote a fair and competitive business environment
• strong provisions on the protection of the environment and labour rights, which are enforceable by dispute settlement, to ensure that CPTPP parties do not derogate from their commitments in these areas to increase trade or investment
• commitments aimed at trade-related technical cooperation among CPTPP members, including with respect to small and medium-sized enterprises, regulatory coherence and economic development

Canada also negotiated a number of bilateral side instruments with other CPTPP countries that build upon the agreement’s outcomes and secure additional commitments in areas such as autos and culture.

Accessions

The CPTPP is designed to expand to include new member economies in the future. With the agreement now in force, any economy that is able to meet the high-standard rules and ambitious market access commitments of the CPTPP can seek to join it, subject to negotiations on terms and conditions with the current CPTPP members.

At the inaugural CPTPP Commission meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on January 19, 2019, CPTPP members laid out the key procedural steps for accessions negotiations. The accession of new economies to the CPTPP is an opportunity to increase the agreement’s benefits for Canadians, further diversifying and expanding Canada’s preferential access to dynamic markets throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Accessions would also help reinforce the rules-based international system and promote the development of global value chains, strengthening Canada’s connectivity to the Asia-Pacific region.

Canada already has comprehensive free trade agreements or ongoing initiatives with a number of Asia-Pacific economies that are not yet members of the CPTPP, such as the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement (2015), Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with the Philippines (1996) and Thailand (1998) and ongoing exploratory discussions toward a potential Canada-ASEAN free trade agreement.

Additional information on Canada’s relationship with the CPTPP countries

• Australia fact sheet
• Brunei fact sheet
• Chile fact sheet
• Japan fact sheet
• Malaysia fact sheet
• Mexico fact sheet
• New Zealand fact sheet
• Peru fact sheet
• Singapore fact sheet
• Vietnam fact sheet
• Find a trade commissioner in a CPTPP country