As the U.S. formally pulls out of the TPP, we’re calling on the Canadian government to reject the deal and learn a lesson

It's official, U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to formally withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and we are calling on the Canadian government to learn from this lesson to include citizens in the process of future trade deals. 

This morning, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to formally withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed trade deal that experts warn will overwrite domestic law, criminalize online activity, and undermine privacy. Despite this, Canada’s recently-appointed Trade Minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, has said that Canada would consider pursuing some form of the TPP without the U.S., sparking concern from Internet advocates.

With trade negotiations with the U.S., the UK, and China on the federal government’s agenda, we argue that future trade processes must be opened up to citizen input.

The verdict is in: the TPP has been a spectacular failure. It’s no wonder that both major U.S. presidential candidates were against it given how it was broadly rejected by voters. Instead of trying to push ahead with this unpopular deal, Canada needs to learn from the mistakes made in negotiating it, and ensure that any future trade negotiations are open to citizen input from the ground up.

The lesson of the TPP is that no future trade deal will win popular support if citizens are excluded from the process. That’s why any future agreements must include real opportunities for citizen-stakeholder engagement and meet a much higher standard for transparency. The public will never support deals made behind closed doors, that come at the expense of our online freedoms, innovation, and our digital economy.

Canadians are continuing to speak out against the TPP at LetsTalkTPP.ca