Canada together with other remaining partners of the former Trans-Pacific Partnership is set to revise the trade deal on Tuesday, as the agreement will continue even without the United States which allows further access of Canadians to the solid economy of Japan. The concession was validated by International Trade Minister spokesperson François-Philippe Champagne. This will be followed by two days of high-level discussions held in Tokyo as the members will ink the deal earlier in March. The announcement was issued immediately after an unnamed official from the Canadian government stated about the optimism of Ottawa towards the revision of Asia-Pacific pact to be sealed on Tuesday. Canada is regarded to be the second-largest economy among other countries involved in the deal and serves as the major arbitrator in the negotiations. Previously, the agreement was rebranded as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided not to sign the agreement-in-principle or the TPP11 after the withdrawal of the United States from the deal, which produced international headlines. Trudeau plans to have a better concord instead of continuing the deal with uncertainties, however, this resulted to the cancellation of the TPP leaders’ assembly in Danang, Vietnam. There are plenty of assumptions that the initial TPP deal suffered from an extreme blow after the disengagement of the U.S. For now, the agreement was settled out yesterday and Canada is dealing with a heavy renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Canada, Mexico and the United States considered as NAFTA negotiators will have a meeting this week in Montreal. On the other hand, trade ministers agreed with some changes which further include certain protections for the environment and employment rights. They also temporarily removed provisions at issue relating to intellectual property. Aside from Canada, the new partners of the deal consist of Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
