Trudeau, Abe tout trade gains in Pacific Rim pact
OTTAWA • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s whirlwind visit to Ottawa this weekend offered the Liberal government a rare chance to trumpet a strong international alliance in the face of unyielding strain with its two top trading partners.
But a gaffe by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — referring twice to strong ties between Canada and China, not Japan — affixed a jarring asterisk to an otherwise warm and upbeat meeting between two allies facing the same common threats and challenges.
Trudeau kicked off a Sunday morning photo-op in his Parliament Hill office noting 90 years of diplomatic relations between “Canada and China,” but immediately corrected himself to Japan. Later, in his opening remarks at a joint press conference, Trudeau said: “I am very, very glad that you were able to make such time for the tremendous friendship that we celebrate every day between Canada and China. Thank you, Shinzo.”
Abe’s visit comes as Canada finds itself between a rock and a hard place with the United States and China. The Trump administration is holding firm on punitive metal tariffs, while the People’s Republic’s ongoing imprisonment of two Canadian men following the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Vancouver has thwarted the Trudeau government’s Asian trade ambitions.
Abe and Trudeau celebrated their successful launch late last year of the rebooted Trans-Pacific Partnership — the 11-country Pacific Rim trade alliance that was rescued after President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from it in January 2017, nearly killing it.
Abe said the entry into force of the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership — the CPTPP — has enabled consumers to enjoy “high-quality Canadian products in Japan.” He said he had “high hopes for further expansion of the export of Japanese high-quality products to the Canadian market.”
The veteran Japanese leader made it clear that differences with China and the U.S. are significant, but he advocated a constructive path to bridge those divides.
“Japan and Canada share freedom, human rights, rules of law and other universal values,” Abe said. “Based on this foundation, the global community must unite and try to encourage China to play a constructive role.”
Canada and Japan also share the same vision when it comes to reaching out to the U.S., he said.
“We should co-operate together so that the United States will be encouraged to be the leader of the liberal free world.”
Abe arrived in Ottawa on Saturday, hours after playing a round of golf with Trump at his Virginia course on a visit that demonstrated personal bonhomie but bore no fruit toward advancing a U.S.-Japan trade deal to replace the TPP that Trump abandoned.