Jacinda Ardern hails breakthrough in revised TPP, Canada agrees to stay in

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed the breakthrough in the revised TPP after talks in Tokyo which will see the deal signed by 11 countries next month in Chile.

And New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has announced that his party will support the deal, because of revisions that were negotiated under the mandate of the new Government.

Speaking to reporters at Ratana, Ardern said it was not a perfect deal, but it was improved vastly on National's deal.

"We long acknowledged that we wanted improvement to the deal," she said.

"As soon as we came into Government, we changed the mandate, we went and fought hard, and we got some significant concessions."

Also at Ratana, Peters, who is also Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, said New Zealand First could support it because "the sovereignty of our country has been re-established".

"It is a whole lot better and totally different from the protection deal before we got the job of renegotiating it."

A no-show by Canada which prevented TPP leaders signing the deal in Vietnam in November has been resolved to the satisfaction of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Overnight, speaking at the Davos economic forum in Switzerland, Trudeau hailed the agreement as a progressive deal which met Canada's objectives.

It had been seeking a wider cultural exception to one it had previously negotiated which would have prevented the country imposing special taxes on companies such as Netflix to fund special content in Canada. It is not yet clear whether Canada has actually made substantial gains since Da Nang or has just decided to stay in the deal, despite not getting what it wants.

Peters said he was not sure what had changed Canada's mind but the renegotiation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) - insisted on by US President Donald Trump - may have had something to do with it.

"I think the blunt reality of the uncertainty of Nafta and being left out in the cold has seen a dramatic change with Canada.

Ardern said she spoke to Trudeau last week ahead of the negotiation by officials in Tokyo and reiterated New Zealand's support for Canada's claim to have a cultural exception in the deal.

Winston Peters said the revised deal is better for New Zealand's sovereignty. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The TPP breakthrough comes a year after Trump withdrew the United States from the deal.

The revised TPP is on track to finally be signed by 11 countries in Chile on March 8 by TPP-country ministers, including New Zealand's Trade and Export Minister David Parker.

Parker is en route to the economic forum in Davos.

The TPP has been renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and member countries will be Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Chile, Australia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Peru, Canada and Mexico.

Japan has taken a leadership role in keeping the deal alive after the withdrawal of the United States.

The deal was launched at Apec in 2008 including the United States but talks did not begin until 2010. Japan, Canada and Mexico joined later.

National has pledged to support the deal.

Labour went from promoting the deal in Government - Phil Goff was Trade Minister in 2008 when it was launched - to opposing it in opposition and back to supporting a revised version in Government.

Labour's five bottom lines for support in Opposition were: retaining the Government's right to regulate in the public interest without being successfully sued; preserving Pharmac: maintaining the right to act under the Treaty of Waitangi; having sufficient tariff reductions; and the right to ban house sales to foreign-based investors.

All but the ban on house sales were met under the old TPP but the new Government has introduced legislation which will ban sales of existing houses to foreign-based investors which will be passed before March 8.

Labour also had concerns about Investor State Dispute Settlement rules which sets up an arbitration system to deal with investor grievances against grossly unfair treatment by governments.

Its concerns about ISDS was not a bottom line but after it, New Zealand negotiated changes which narrowed the circumstances in which ISDS can be applied.

Under the TPP12 - negotiated when US was in the TPP - it was possible that Government could be sued under ISDS provisions for screening decisions made under the Overseas Investment Act.

Under negotiations that took place under the new Government, that has been removed as it has the potential to be sued by investors who have won Government contracts.

The ISDS provisions will also be reviewed in three years which would be another chance for New Zealand to challenge the existence of ISDS clauses.

Ardern talked about the possibility of other countries joining the TPP in the future – South Korea and Indonesia are known to be keen, China is a possibility down the track, and Britain has raised the prospect of joining after it has left the European Union.

"I can see why it would be of interest to the UK given Brexit and the ramifications of that for them," said Ardern.

The CPTPP will come into effect when at least 50 per cent of member countries have ratified it – no earlier than August, Peters anticipated.

Parker said the deal would provide New Zealand exporters with preferential access for the first time into Japan, the world's third-largest economy and New Zealand's fifth-largest export market.

"It will also be New Zealand's first FTA relationship with Canada [our 13th largest export market], Mexico [21st], and Peru [46th].

"The CPTPP is even more important to signatory countries given current threats to the effectiveness of the WTO and rising protectionism in many parts of the world," Parker said.

"United States President Donald Trump has just announced a new 30 per cent tariff on imports of solar cells. This is but one example."