A Renewed Canadian Trade Policy Agenda
To date, progress on completing new international trade agreements has been very modest. Before 2006, Canada signed only three new trade agreements in 13 years. Since the Conservative government was first elected, Canada has signed new trade agreements or associations with nine countries. The agreement with the largest market potential to generate significant trade volume growth was the Canada-European Free Trade Association. This agreement primarily involves tariff reductions and a full Free Trade Agreement. However, an expanded European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) have remained elusive.
Michael Hart, the Simon Reisman chair in trade policy at Carleton University, noted in his book Fifty Years of Canadian Tradecraft that as a “relatively small player Canadians need to be quick, early, and creative if we are to influence the content and course of trade negotiations”. BC’s shipping community will be well served if our political leaders heed Mr. Hart’s advice as they pursue a renewed Canadian trade policy agenda.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.wavepointconsulting.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/BCSN-June-2012-Anderson-Trade-Policy.pdf”]