Tell Trade Minister Champagne ‘No to TPP 11’.
The Canada West Foundation and the Asian Trade Centre are calling on the Trudeau government to support “TPP 11”.
In short, they are arguing that Canada should fully endorse and participate in the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) even with the United States having withdrawn from the deal.
In an opinion piece published in The Globe and Mail today, Carlo Dade (Director of the Trade & Investment Centre director at the Canada West Foundation) and Dr. Deborah Elms (Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre in Singapore) write, “The summit in Chile will test how the 11 other signatories to the agreement want to respond to Mr. Trump’s walking away: give up, go home and wait to deal with Mr. Trump one-on-one; or, forge ahead without the United States, on ‘TPP 11’.”
Dade and Elms argue, “Moving ahead without the United States is technically feasible – strike the sentence in Chapter 30 section 2 of the agreement that requires that a minimum of six signatories representing a combined 85-per-cent GDP ratify the agreement for it to come into force, and put all sections that deal specifically with the United States in abeyance for now.”
And they conclude, “By signing on early to go to Chile, this government has indicated that it gets this. But the real test is how it does at the meetings. Given that trade negotiations with China will be long and have yet to start, the meeting in Chile is the only opportunity, in the near term, to advance Canada’s Asian trade ambitions.”
Trudeau’s trade minister François-Philippe Champagne is now in Vina del Mar, Chile for two days of meetings on this issue starting today.
The Council of Canadians believes that the Trudeau government should formally withdraw from the TPP prior to the summit in Chile.
To send an urgent message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trade Minister Champagne demanding that they withdraw Canada from the TPP, please respond to this online action alert.
#StopTPP
