CAPI sets out a game plan for making the most of the chaos.Ottawa—Rules-based international trade was in trouble before COVID-19 lead to national policies and subsidies that amplified the chaos, says the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI).To cope with the situation, Canada needs to build up its sustainability credentials and find like-minded countries to work with to re-establish international trade rules, CAPI says in a report.It should also support farmers with incentives or mechanisms based on the value they deliver in terms of environmental protection rather than just providing bigger subsidies.Other key steps it recommends include:-replacing the faltering multilateral rules-based trading system with “new, concrete approaches toward renewing the trading system while addressing challenges arising from the current chaotic environment”;--leveraging existing and negotiating new plurilateral trade deals, such as Pacific and European agreements, to expand agrifood trade;--negotiating sectoral trade agreements or arrangements that promote rules-based trade around specific sectors, products or services;--using Canada's comparative advantage in the sustainable use of natural capital and its net export position as leverage in negotiation of new approaches that take into environmental protection performance;CAPI also recommended Canada work more closely with countries with which it already has trade agreements to further reduce environmental regulatory differences. It should also beef up its capacity to understand what customer countries want from imported products.Canada must accept that “Major elements of a stable, secure trade and geopolitical environment under rules-based trade, which governed global agricultural policy since the 1990s, have now shifted.” Global agrifood trade has been “impacted by recent trade disruptions, increased uncertainty, new global players, a changing climate and evolving global demands.”Going it alone, “as many countries already have done with their own taxes environmental regulations, and subsidies, risks creating multiple standards and further disruptions to trade and threats to global food security.” Strategic cooperation among like-minded countries will be essential to making progress.Sustainability is a global issue that is best addressed with solutions at the regional or local level, by farmers and ranchers who have the most direct control over natural resources, CAPI said. Solutions must be based on science and measures that harness the forces of liberalized trade and investment, while contributing to the global environmental well-being.CAPI also suggested using the environmental language in existing trade deals and other international accords in future deals. “What will be harder to do will be to include new and emerging environmental issues that have no precedence in trade agreements.”Consultations with the agrifood sector during the past year found agreement on the value of strengthening “multilateral institutions and to ensure that the future multilateral trading system includes provisions acknowledging and valuing the sector's contributions to climate change, and for improving environmental sustainability.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.