Canada, China Moving Closer to Potential Trade Talks

Efforts to lay the groundwork for possible negotiations on a bilateral Canada-China trade deal continue underway, with Canadian officials launching a three-month domestic consultations period last week. In preparation for further negotiations with Beijing, the Canadian government published in its gazette that it was soliciting views on the potential deal from various sectors in Canadian society; from individual Canadians themselves to businesses, indigenous groups, and provincial governments, among others. This consultation period will last until 2 June 2017. “Today, there are few places that offer us as many exciting opportunities for expanding growth and prosperity through trade and investment as the Asia Pacific region, and especially China,” said Canadian International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced last September that the two nations had started exploratory discussions on the possibility of a bilateral accord. (See Bridges Weekly, 29 September 2016 ) They also confirmed at that time that they hope to double bilateral trade from 2015 levels by the year 2025, with the potential trade deal a possible way of meeting this goal. The announcement of exploratory talks last year came after both sides resolved to put an end to a long-standing...