China crucial for strategy, Carr says
TORONTO Canada’s pursuit of deeper trade ties with China will not be hindered by the USMCA pact, as the federal government seeks to make the Asian superpower an “essential component” of its trade diversification strategy, International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr said Monday.
Carr, who will co-chair a twoday business conference in China with Finance Minister Bill Morneau later this week, told the Toronto Region Board of Trade that “no conversation about the Pacific Region would be complete without talking about Canada’s secondlargest trading partner, China.”
“We should be under no misapprehensions that our trading relationship with the United States will continue to be the most important of all; of course it will be,” he said. “But there’s a value in expanding trade markets, including to China.
Asked about a clause in the USMCA that would give any party the option to leave the pact with six months notice if another enters a free trade deal with a non-market economy — widely believed to be China — Carr insisted “it doesn’t change anything.” The clause has fuelled worries that Washington, engaged in a trade war with Beijing, will attempt to interfere in Canada’s trade relationships.
“We’ve given up no sovereignty and no, I’m not concerned about it,” Carr said, noting that the current North American Free Trade Agreement already has a provision allowing for an exit with six months notice.
Carr and Morneau’s trip to Beijing comes during the same week as a separate trade mission to China led by Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence McAulay, Treasury Board president Scott Brison, and the premiers of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. The goal of that effort is to promote Canada’s food, education, clean growth and tourism sectors.
Exports to China from Atlantic Canada grew 37 per cent last year to more than $1.5 billion, with seafood exports having doubled in the past five years alone, according to the federal government. Chinese tourism is also on the rise, while Atlantic Canadian universities get over 30 per cent of their international students from the powerhouse.
Taking advantage of deals will mean engaging small and mediumsized firms in global supply chains and infrastructure projects and mobilizing “non-traditional and first time exporters,” including firms led by women and Indigenous people, Carr said. “When only 11 per cent of women-owned businesses export, we are leaving hundreds of billions of dollars on the table.”