The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that the Tory government was so confident it would sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal that it was asking business groups to loudly support the conclusion of an agreement. The Globe's Steven Chase writes that the Tories believed supporting voices would drown out those of unhappy milk producers.
During a May meeting, a senior Conservative government official encouraged representatives of a manufacturing association to "be vocal" in backing a TPP agreement, an unnamed official with the lobby group recalled. Now it turns out Canada's automotive sector is also facing possible risk from a TPP deal.
The Harper government is now working furiously on a fix.
Canada and Mexico only learned when they arrived at TPP talks in late July that the United States and Japan had brokered a deal on vehicle imports that could hit the NAFTA partners' auto sectors hard. Furthermore, Washington had assured Tokyo that its North American neighbours would accept this side deal.
Japan and the U.S. had cut a side deal lowering the threshold for how much of an automobile would have to come from TPP signatory countries in order for it to avoid hefty tariffs.
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