More Pacific Rim Trade Talks Under Way in San Diego: Canada Not Yet at Table
(The Canadian Press)
The United States and eight other Pacific Rim countries have opened another round of talks aimed at producing a new trade deal.
Negotiators trying to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement have met about a dozen times over the past three years.
The talks include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, with Canada, Mexico and possibly Japan expected to join.
The proposed partnership was largely unknown outside trade circles until last fall when Prime Minister Stephen Harper signalled a desire to join the nine-member club.
Ottawa lobbied hard to be admitted and it paid off at a recent G20 gathering in Mexico when it was announced that Canada would be invited.
But Canada’s admission must first be approved by all the other countries and U.S. Read more here.
Date: July 3, 2012
