The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Viet Nam, and the Embassy of Canada to Viet Nam co-hosted the Canada–Viet Nam Forum on Economic Resilience and CPTPP–EU Linkages on July 20, 2026, in Ho Chi Minh City, with the support of the Canadian Chambers of Commerce in Viet Nam.

Members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union began formal engagement in November 2025, when trade ministers convened the inaugural CPTPP–EU Trade and Investment Dialogue in Melbourne, Australia, and issued a joint statement identifying digital trade, supply chain resilience, and the global trade environment as areas for co-operation. 

That engagement now faces its first test: whether it can produce outcomes at the ministerial meeting in Ha Noi in November 2026, or whether it remains a statement of shared intent. 

The Forum on Economic Resilience and CPTPP-EU Linkages was timed to precede the third CPTPP Senior Officials’ Meeting of Viet Nam’s chairmanship year and brought together senior officials from Canada, Viet Nam, Japan, Singapore, and the EU, as well as business leaders, legal practitioners, academics, and chambers of commerce. Together, the two groupings (CPTPP and EU) account for roughly 32 per cent of global GDP and 37 per cent of global trade, and participants largely treated the strategic case for alignment as settled. 

The discussion concentrated instead on what can be delivered, in what order, and through which instruments. A set of constraints became clear: a short window for co-ordination to deliver outcomes this year, limited negotiating capacity, particularly in the lower-income CPTPP members, asymmetric institutional structures, and a persistent gap between agreements as written and agreements as used. 

The discussion focused on near-term actions that can be advanced without first resolving the larger questions of regulatory convergence.

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