On January 23, 2018, Canada and Australia, Brunei Darussalam,
Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,
Singapore, and Vietnam reached an agreement in principle that is
the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership ("CPTPP") (formerly known as the TransPacific
Partnership Agreement, TPP, TTTP-1, and TPP-11). The United States
withdrew from TPP in January 2017. It is expected that the
signing ceremony will take place in Chile on March 8, 2018.
It is no coincidence that an agreement was reached on the first
day of the sixth round of the NAFTA modernization re-negotiations
in Montreal Canada. Canada and Mexico are both signatories to
NAFTA and CPTPP. The CPTPP evolves many NAFTA
provisions. If the United States withdraws from NAFTA, Canada
and Mexico can operate under the CPTPP or may choose to operate
under NAFTA without the United States. Both countries have a
new option for bilateral trade.