CPTPP

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) began as a large multilateral trade agreement negotiated by 12 countries bordering the Pacific Ocean: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States. TPP negotiations concluded during the final days of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper in office, and the Trudeau government eventually signed the deal in 2016.

The deal was extremely controversial. In the U.S., presidential candidates opposed it, and Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz called it “the worst trade deal ever.” After being elected into office, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order, pulling the U.S. out of the deal in 2017.

However, the remaining countries continued their negotiations. In Canada, in an effort to make Harper’s deal more appealing to Canadians, the agreement was renamed the “Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership” (CPTPP). The name was one of the only things to change – much of what’s in the TPP and the CPTPP are the same. Read more.