November | 2017 | Jared Wong's Blog

Recently our Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, refused to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This was a surprising development especially with the consistence support the TPP had gotten from Canada in the previous years. In a recent interview, Trudeau stated that “Canada will not be rushed into a deal that is not in the best interest of Canada and Canadians.” (2017, John Paul Tasker, p.2) With Donal

Picture from Adrian Wyld from http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-mexico-tpp-1.4399224

d Trump stepping out alongside Canada in the TPP, the future of this agreement is become very unsure.

It’s a little troubling to see Canada stepping out of this agreement. Whether or not this is the best interest for Canada, some negative side effects are already being shown. Areas like Japan and New Zealand have been quoted “expressing disappointment at Trudeau supposedly screwing and sabotaging a final agreement by being a no-show.” (2017, John Paul Tasker, p. 6) As such, Trudeau didn’t show up for the TPP meeting the signing for the TPP didn’t happen. This makes me worried for the Canadian reputation and backlash that this country is receiving for temporary stepping out. It’s a hard line between being a pushover as a country while keeping the reputation in tact.

I also fear that by Canada not signing this agreement, it could be completely abolished. With the United States of America already not participating, this TPP agreement is losing a big player. Mexico is also stepping out because they made an agreement that if “Canada didn’t sign on to the TPP, Mexico wouldn’t either.” (2017, Andy Blatchford, p.12) It seems that this decision is affecting external sources besides Canada which might cause a chain reaction of the main players of the agreement stepping out.

The reason why Canada has not supported the TPP as of late is that they have been pressing for “autos, cultural industries and the suspension of IP provisions” (2017, Andy Blatchford, p.26) that was present in the previous TPP. It is bold for Canada to step away and have the conviction to stand up for the support of these issues but it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Overall, I am not on either side of the controversy with this agreement. I believe that both sides can yield good and disastrous results. Since this is a decision that has happened extremely recently, it is hard to take full grasp of the situation without a proper explanation. Therefore, I hope that whatever path is chosen, it is in the best interest for Canada.