US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity with other regional leaders via video link at the Izumi Garden Gallery in Tokyo on May 23. SAUL LOEB / AFP / Getty Images
Canadian business leaders say Canada should not have been left behind by launching new US-led trade talks on the Indo-Pacific region.
They are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sign as soon as possible, saying Canada must be present if countries, which account for 40 percent of world economic output, set new trade rules.
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Prosperity Framework (IPEF) with a dozen initial partners, including Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Japan and South Korea. The parties said in a joint statement that the pact would help them collectively “prepare our economies for the future” following the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
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Goldie Haider, president of the Canadian Business Council, said he was puzzled why Canada was not involved in early discussions that could shape the future of trade in the Indo-Pacific region.
“We need to remind everyone that we are a Pacific nation. I think there is a feeling that we are not. How can our own neighbor and ally leave us out of the long list of countries involved? ”Mr Haider asked.
“We need to validate and get in there,” he said of the IPEF talks.
“Part of the problem may be that in some cases we are taken for granted or forgotten – and neither is right,” Mr Haider said. He spoke from Seoul, where he met with South Korean business leaders and government officials.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau downplayed Canada’s exclusion from the start of talks in a comment to reporters during a visit to Vancouver on Tuesday.
He said that the fact that Canada is a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP), which includes many of the participants in the new US-led negotiations, means that Canadian companies already have preferential access to these Asian markets.
Washington has not had an economic pillar for its Indo-Pacific engagement since then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the CPTPP, leaving the field open to China to expand its influence.
“Fortunately, Canada has a free trade agreement with the CPTPP and we have a free trade agreement with the United States that has just been renewed with the new NAFTA, so this is not something that directly affects us,” Mr Trudeau told SETimes. Biden – economic talks.
“The fact that the United States is not in the CPTPP means that they must look for ways to try to build ties with countries in the Pacific with which they do not have a free trade agreement.
Mr Trudeau will not say whether Canada will seek to join the Biden talks.
“We are looking at it. I think it is always good when the parties agree to work together. But the United States would not do that if they were actually in the CPTPP, as was actually planned by the previous administration, “he said.
Mark Agnew, senior vice president of policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said Canada had stayed away from several major developments in the Indo-Pacific region, including the quadripartite security dialogue – known as the Quartet – between India, South Korea, Australia and the United States. and AUKUS, the Defense Pact involving Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Mr Agnew said he believed Washington’s new economic talks were aimed at rivaling China’s trade deal, which covers much of Asia – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – as the two world powers try to set the rules. for trade management in the region.
“I think what the Americans have done is ask themselves, ‘How can we, as the United States, establish ourselves in the region?’ And I think what we see is a product of that effort.”
Mr Agnew said Canada could not afford to miss the discussion.
“If you are a company operating in the Indo-Pacific, you want to have a consistent set of rules to work in this environment on issues such as consumer privacy,” he said. “If you are not part of the standard-setting conversation, then they will not be able to take your interests into account.
The White House said the deal did not offer tariff relief for acceding countries, but provided a way to address issues ranging from climate change to the sustainability of the supply chain and digital commerce.
“The future of the 21st century economy will largely be written in the Indo-Pacific region – in our region,” Mr Biden said at an event in Tokyo earlier this week. “We’re writing the new rules.”
Mr Biden also wants the deal to improve environmental, labor and other standards in Asia.
International trade lawyer Lawrence Herman said Canada needs to join the trade pact.
“It is in Canada’s interest to participate in multilateral or regional agreements involving the United States, given our close dependence on the United States and the integration of our economic systems,” he said.
He said he believed Canada’s absence from the start of those talks reflected a perception that the country was a marginal player.
“There are many reasons why Canada is not at the forefront of some of these strategic developments, and one of them is that we do not think we have shifted our burden for decades on military and security issues – and we must to change “, Mr. Said Herman.
He added that the ongoing review of defense policy could change Canada’s approach to security issues.
The US Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday regarding Canada’s absence from the list of countries included in the start of IPEF negotiations.
With files from Reuters and the Associated Press
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