The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) in-force between Canada and 10 other countries in the Indo-Pacific region: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The CPTPP entered into force on December 30, 2018, in the first six countries to have ratified the agreement: Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and Singapore. The Agreement has since entered into force for all eleven original signatories. On July 16, 2023, CPTPP Parties signed an Accession Protocol with the United Kingdom, welcoming them as the Agreement’s 12th member and first and only successful accession candidate. The CPTPP will enter into force for the U.K. once all CPTPP members and the U.K. complete their respective ratification processes. If all members have not ratified by October 16, 2024, the Accession Protocol will enter into force after 6 CPTPP members and the U.K. ratify the Agreement.
The CPTPP incorporates, by reference, a majority of the provisions from the original agreement: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The CPTPP preserves the TPP’s high level of ambition on trade rules and market access, with updated procedures on withdrawal, accession and review of the agreement after entry into force. 22 provisions have been suspended from the TPP. Hence, they will not apply under the CPTPP. Canada also negotiated a number of bilateral side instruments with other CPTPP countries that build upon the Agreement’s outcomes and secure additional commitments in areas such as automobiles and culture.
With 30 chapters in total, the CPTPP covers virtually all aspects of trade between Canada and the 10 other CPTPP members. The Agreement features ambitious market-access commitments in trade in goods, services, investment, labour mobility, and government procurement. The Agreement also establishes clear rules that help create a consistent, transparent and fair environment to do business in CPTPP markets, with dedicated chapters covering key issues like technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs administration, transparency, and state-owned enterprises. Additionally, the CPTPP features chapters on the protection of the environment and labour rights, which are enforceable by dispute settlement, to ensure that CPTPP members do not derogate from their commitments in these areas to increase trade or investment. The Agreement also includes a variety of chapters aimed at trade-related technical cooperation among CPTPP members, including with respect to small and medium-sized enterprises, regulatory coherence and economic development.
Benefits of the agreement
With the recent addition of the U.K., once fully implemented, the CPTPP will establish a free trade area representing over 15% of global GDP and more than 580 million consumers. The CPTPP’s key benefits and outcomes include:
- new opportunities for a broad range of Canadian industries and sectors, including aerospace, agriculture, fish and seafood, forestry, industrial manufacturing, information and communications technologies, metals and minerals, as well as environmental, financial and professional services.
- preferential access to seven markets in the Indo-Pacific region that Canada does not have an existing FTA with: Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam.
- enhanced access to current FTA partners in Chile, Mexico and Peru by building upon existing commitments and offering new opportunities for Canadians in these markets. For example, Canadians can benefit from access to public procurement opportunities at the sub-national level in Chile—an area not covered by the Canada-Chile FTA.
- a level playing field for Canadian exporters with respect to competitors from other countries in the region that already enjoy enhanced access to key markets like Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam. Through preferential treatment, Canadian exporters will also enjoy an advantage over their competitors that do not enjoy the same level of access.
- enhanced rules and obligations to ensure transparency, predictability, and consistency for Canadians trading and investing in CPTPP markets, providing greater certainty and reducing the time and costs of participating in international trade.
- comprehensive commitments that address challenges and issues faced by Canadians in the contemporary global economy, such as non-tariff barriers and state-owned enterprises, to help level the playing field and promote a fair and competitive business environment.
- strong provisions that help protect and advance Canadian interests, such as the protection of the environment, labour rights and preservation of the right to regulate in the public interest, while enhancing trade and investment with CPTPP markets.
- an ambitious outcome that sets a new standard for rules on trade and investment in the Indo-Pacific region and promotes and reinforces Canada’s commitment to the rules-based international system and global free trade.
Additionally, the CPTPP includes an accession process that provides for the further expansion of the Agreement’s membership now that the Agreement is in force. The CPTPP membership is open to accession by any economy that is able to meet the high-standard rules and ambitious market access commitments of the CPTPP, demonstrates a track record of compliance with international trade commitments, and garners the consensus of existing CPTPP Parties, subject to negotiations on terms and conditions with the current CPTPP members. As a result, the CPTPP has the capacity to provide Canada with preferential access to additional markets in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, as demonstrated by the recent addition of the United Kingdom.
Learn more about each section of the Agreement and their key outcomes through our chapter summaries.
Implementation and ratification
The Government of Canada’s procedures to ratify international agreements includes a number of required steps, including tabling the treaty (and any related binding instruments) in the House of Commons for debate, passing implementing legislation in Parliament and implementing any necessary regulatory changes to comply with a treaty’s obligations:
- On January 23, 2018, Canada and the 10 other CPTPP members concluded negotiations.
- On March 8, 2018, the CPTPP members signed the Agreement in Santiago, Chile.
- On May 23, 2018, the Government of Canada tabled the CPTPP and its related binding instruments in the House of Commons.
- On June 14, 2018, then Minister of International Trade François-Philippe Champagne introduced implementing legislation for the CPTPP (Bill C-79) in the House of Commons for consideration, debate and passage through Parliament.
- On September 17, 2018, Minister of International Trade Diversification Jim Carr opened second reading on Bill C-79 as the Government’s first order of business upon the resumption of parliamentary proceedings from summer recess.
- On October 25, 2018, Bill C-79 received royal assent, becoming a federal statute.
- On October 29, 2018, Minister Carr announced that the Government of Canada had notified the agreement’s depositary of the completion of its domestic legal procedures to bring the CPTPP into force.
Canada was the fifth country to ratify the CPTPP, after Mexico (June 28, 2018), Japan (July 6, 2018), Singapore (July 19, 2018) and New Zealand (October 25, 2018). Australia ratified the CPTPP on October 30, 2018, triggering the Agreement’s entry into force provision.
Resources
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation Act can be found on the Department of Justice Canada’s website.
For more information, please see how tariff eliminations work under the CPTPP.
For importing goods into the Canadian market, Canada’s Customs Tariff is available on the Canada Border Services Agency’s website.
Learn more about the CPTPP
Learn more about the CPTPP and how it can benefit you or your business through our various online resources about the Agreement:
- benefits by sector and region – factsheets available from the CPTPP homepage
- chapter summaries
- full text of the Agreement
In light of IPS - suggest using Indo-Pacific throughout instead of Asia-Pacific.
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