On the cusp of CP-TPP

On the trade watch, New Zealand is predicting the CP-TPP will hit an important milestone on the road to opening up a block that does more than $425 billion in trade each year.

The agreement comes into force 60 days after six of the 11 signatories have completed the ratification process.

Canada is about to formally ratify the deal after the bill making that possible received Royal Assent this week. 

New Zealand, Mexico, Japan and Singapore have already ratified and Australia is expected to move forward next week, hitting that magic number.

David Parker, New Zealand's trade minister, says that will herald in a new stage in the Canada-New Zealand relationship.

"If I could just push back a wee bit on Canada, you know it's only this year through the CP-TPP that we've had a decent trade relationship with Canada despite being a Five Eyes partner with Canada," he said.

In the era of increasing protectionism Parker called it "an incredibly important agreement in the world." 

"Even before these current problems with the [World Trade Organization]  the relative importance of it is an agreement between countries that they're not going to prejudice unfairly," he said.