The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a free trade agreement that will eliminate tariffs on the vast majority of goods traded between the 11-member nations.

These are: Australia, Brunei, Darussalam, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore & Viet Nam

The bill was unanimously passed on October 25th after an extraordinarily short deliberation in the Senate where there was little if any opposition

Now that Canada and Australia have become the fifth and sixth members of the pact to ratify the agreement, it will come into effect by the 1st of next year

The CPTPP gives Canadian Companies eventual preferential access to 10 markets that rim the Pacific Ocean including 6 in Asia. The agreement represents access to a market of 495 million people. To put it into perspective, Canada only has a population of 35 million.

This makes the CPTPP arguably the most important trade agreement - signed to date - giving Canadian companies the ability to build new supply and production chains.

It is estimated that the CPTPP will save 428 million in tariffs each year, mostly from trade with Japan, Viet Nam and Australia and would increase imports by 3.6 billion.

In terms of exports, it is estimated that CPTPP will likely generate an increase of economic activity of approximately 3.4 billion.

For Canadian businesses, the combined effect of the CPTPP and the Canadian European Free Trade Agreement (access to 500 million people) significantly opens trade opportunities with limited competition from other nations.

We strongly suggest that Canadian companies start looking into future business opportunities with these countries, immediately.

Our company will continue to monitor the developments regarding this agreement, in the meantime if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-265-2567 or ago@agotrans.com.

To read more about this milestone, published on the National Post, click here.