Canada is forming an anti-Trump alliance. A former close ally deals a severe blow to the USA
On Friday, March 27, the EU and the 12-nation CPTPP bloc, which together represent almost a third of the world economy, will develop a plan to keep the World Trade Organization (WTO) on track. Or, if it can't be saved, “they will build a new order,” Carney said.
– While The United States is retreating on its own principlesthe rest of the world is not standing still, but is actively rebuilding the global trading system in America's absence, says John Ferguson, global leader of the Future of Trade initiative on The Economist Impact website.
“Ironically, it is Donald Trump – the man who torched the old rules-based order – who may unwittingly become the catalyst for a renewed rules-based global trading order,” Ferguson adds. “The global trading system as we know it may be falling apart, but from that rupture something more resilient can emerge. An agreement between the EU and the CPTPP could become its cornerstone.”
Six years ago, Trump paralyzed the WTO dispute court. His administration is now pressuring WTO members to change the organization's basic rules in order to toughen their stance on China. At the same time, the White House's tariffs openly disregard regulations, harming global trade.
Among other disputes within the WTO, which operates by consensus, 166 members cannot agree on whether e-commerce and digital commerce — including software, cloud services and streaming music and movies — should be permanently exempt from tariffs.
Last month, Carney offered to “build a bridge” between the EU and the rapidly growing Indo-Pacific CPTPP bloc, which includes Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and, most recently, the United Kingdom – in the form of a new trade pact against Trump, which also aims to reform the WTO.
“It's possible that the WTO can become the organization that it really, really wants to be, which is one that can make decisions and move things forward,” Bryant said.
“This would be a direct blow to the Trump administration.”
Trade ministers from the EU and CPTPP countries are preparing a new joint statement on WTO reform to be presented this week, two diplomats – one from a CPTPP member country and the other from the EU – told POLITICO.
“It will almost certainly include a reference to e-commerce,” said a diplomat from a CPTPP country, noting that it is not yet finalized and discussions about its content are ongoing.
— Cooperation with CPTPP countries… is important to us. We share the view that we must base our economic relations on a rules-based system, Denis Redonnet, deputy director general of the Commission's trade department, told POLITICO.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the signing ceremony of the Joint Statement at the Parliament Building in Canberra, Tuesday 24 March 2026.Alex Ellinghausen / Sydney Morning Herald, Getty Images / Getty Images
“There is clearly a growing awareness that if consensus-based WTO reform remains blocked, willing countries will need parallel mechanisms to make progress on specific issues,” says Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada think tank.
— The EU and CPTPP are working to build coalitions in areas where there is already significant convergence of views, says Nadjibulla. “This is not about replacing the WTO, but about creating a complementary platform for a large group of like-minded economies to make progress on digital trade, investment facilitation and supply chains.”
She added that the partnership points to a broader strategic context. “A broader trade coalition of middle powers is emerging, aimed at preserving as much of the rules-based order as possible while creating new paths to updating it,” she said.
At a key meeting in Melbourne, Australia, last November, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation in five key areas. The records concerned, among others, WTO reform and the pact on the so-called rules of origin, which would enable producers from both blocs to trade goods and their parts more smoothly.
These issues, as well as strengthening digital trade and supply chain rules, are also on the agenda for Friday's meeting between EU's Sefcovic and CPTPP ministers.
In February, Prime Minister Carney sent John Hannaford, his personal representative to the European Union, to Singapore to expedite potential agreements with regional leaders.
— Concluding trade pacts between the EU and CPTPP would be a direct blow to the Trump administration and proof that a critical mass of the world's leading economies can come together to bring real stability to global markets, says Ferguson of Economist Impact.
A senior Canadian government official told POLITICO that talks in Cameroon will focus on finding areas where rapid progress can be made and then developing a work program for the future. Canada very much wants negotiators to make as much progress as possible in the shortest amount of time, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
There is a similar mood in London.
“We hope that the more we meet, the more we can get done and keep the momentum going,” British Trade Secretary Bryant said, adding that the two blocs couldn't meet just once a year to achieve their goals.
