HARPER BACKS TRUMP ON CHINA
Admission to WTO was ‘ bad deal’
Former prime minister Stephen Harper has called China’s admission to the World Trade Organization “a bad deal” as the ongoing trade war between China and the United States spoiled chances for an agreement on a path forward for the World Trade Organization.
“Can you have a bad trade deal? Absolutely, you can have a bad trade deal,” Harper said of the trading relationship between the U.S. and China, in an interview with American conservative pundit Ben Shapiro published online Sunday — the same day the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit ended in Papua New Guinea with deep divisions.
Leaders at the summit had been working toward signing a joint communiqué on the future of the WTO, but disagreement between China and the U.S. prevented that. It was the first time leaders had failed to agree on a declaration in 29 years of
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the Pacific Rim summits, which involve countries representing 60 per cent of the world economy.
While not discussing the spat in Papua New Guinea specifically, Harper signalled Sunday that he supports U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions on China, insofar as the end goal is “for China to have a more open market.”
“When the United States allowed China to enter the WTO, we set up a situation — Canada is in the same boat — where the Chinese have wide-ranging unfettered access to almost all of our economy, but we can only sell to the Chinese when, where and in what quantity and for how long as they say we can,” Harper said.
He described it as “a bad deal that provides grossly unequal access and, a consequence is, you have the outflow of millions of jobs from the United States, from Canada, to China.”
When in the Prime Minister’s Office, Harper signed the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between Canada and China, a bilateral investment treaty designed partially to protect investors doing business in either country.
The former prime minister has been promoting his book on the rise of populism. In his conversation with Shapiro, Harper touched on the rise of right-wing and left-wing populism, the differences between conservatives in the U.S. and Canada, immigration and trade protectionism.
Trump campaigned on promises to get tough with China and rework the trading relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
So far, Trump has imposed $250 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods entering the U.S. and China has responded with tariffs of its own as the dispute has escalated over the course of the year.
Trump has also criticized the WTO and the U.S. has openly blocked the appointments of new judges to the organization’s dispute settlement mechanism, known as the appellate body, a tactic that threatens to paralyze the organization and prevent it from making decisions.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have been championing changes to the WTO and organized a meeting last month in Ottawa to start crafting a road map for reforms.
“There was broad agreement on how we need to support our citizens and work forward towards better co-operation,” Trudeau said. “But I don’t think it will come as a huge surprise that there are differing visions on particular elements in regards to trade and those prevented there from being full consensus on the communiqué document.”
When asked specifically which countries were involved, Trudeau said the U.S. and China were among a larger group.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence traded barbs Saturday in a battle for global influence. Both left the summit by early Sunday afternoon amid what reports described as tense backroom negotiations on the wording of the final communiqué.
Trudeau met Sunday with the leaders of two key trading partners — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison — where there was talk about the future of a trade deal among 11 Pacific Rim countries, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership.
Observers say there is chatter about admitting the United States and China into the CPTPP to create a further-reaching regional trade pact. Speaking through a translator, Abe said he was ready to work with Trudeau “to expand this trade area, which will have the free and fair rules” and forge a closer relationship “to address various global challenges.”
Morrison noted that the countries who ratified the agreement were “leaving the door open for others to come join, which we would welcome.”
Trudeau also had to deal with a potential challenge to the recently concluded United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA for short.
More than 40 Republican lawmakers wrote Trump on Friday demanding the removal of language in the agreement pledging all three countries to support policies that protect workers against discrimination on the basis of sex, including with regard to pregnancy, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, gender identity.