THE LATEST | CANADANational Post: In something of a climb-down, Politico reported Wednesday that Carney had merely offered to “broker a bridge” between the European Union and the member states of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This would purportedly conjure a “new anti-Trump trade bloc” uniting the 27 EU states with the “fast-growing Indo-Pacific trade bloc,” Politico reported, all thanks to Carney.
In fact the EU-CPTPP talks have been going on for several months already. Politico’s “fast-growing” 11-member CPTPP has grown by only one signatory since it was established more than a decade ago — the United Kingdom — and only provisionally. And during a press conference in Montreal Tuesday, Carney said yes, the view in Ottawa is that Canada “can help broker a bridge” between the EU and the CPTPP. This is what Politico was referring to by reporting that Canada is “spearheading conversations.”…