The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement entered into force on December 30, 2018 for six countries – Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore. The CPTPP incorporates, by reference, the provisions from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with the exception of a number of provisions that were suspended, as discussed in this February 2018 briefing.
Vietnam recently ratified the CPTPP, while Chile, Peru, Brunei and Malaysia have not ratified the Agreement yet. Once all countries ratify, markets of close to 500 million consumers will be covered by the CPTPP.
The United States of America withdrew as a Party to the CPTPP under the Trump Administration.
Customs tariffs will eventually be eliminated providing duty free access for Canadian exporters, notably in the agriculture sector. But the CPTPP is indeed a "comprehensive" trade agreement, containing a wide array of chapters such as government procurement, investment, trade remedies, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property, cross-border trade in services, financial services, electronic commerce, labour, environment, transparency and anti-corruption, and dispute settlement.
Canada did not have a free trade agreement with Japan and now enjoys preferential access to the world's third largest economy. Canada now has free trade access to the Americas, the European Union and the Asia-Pacific Region.
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