Canada is hosting a round of exploratory negotiations this week on what lies ahead for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) from which the U.S. recently bowed out.
Senior trade officials from every remaining signatory country will convene the so-called TPP-minus-one talks in Toronto on Tuesday and Wednesday. While ministers won’t attend, the event is expected to set the stage for an upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of trade ministers in Vietnam.
This week’s talks are also the latest sign of Canada looking to act in part away from its biggest trading partner — amid escalating disputes with President Donald Trump’s administration over the North American Free Trade Agreement, softwood lumber and the dairy sector. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government responded to U.S. lumber duties last week by saying it would in turn try to sell more of its product to Asia.
The federal government, priding itself on providing the bridge between the Atlantic and Pacific, has also left the door open to pursuing a bilateral trade deal with Japan — the biggest economy remaining in the TPP — and Trudeau told media outlets last month that Canada seems to be in a "post-TPP world."
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