Conservative and Bloc Quebecois MPs are calling on the Liberals to follow through on a trade co-operation framework with Taiwan after the territory's envoy to Canada said Ottawa halted the process suddenly. A senior Canadian diplomat said last week it's up to cabinet to decide how to move forward on the agreement, which he suggested is almost ready for a...
Eight years after Canada launched free trade negotiations with the Mercosur bloc of nations, a Brazilian official says an agreement is on track to be signed by the end of the year. Paula Barboza, director for extra-regional negotiations and economic governance at Brazil's ministry of foreign affairs, told The Canadian Press the talks have been propelled by a "political push"...
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attacked Canada's trade strategy today, adding, "They suck." Lutnick was responding to a report in the Financial Post quoting Canada's former chief trade negotiator Steve Verheul saying time is on Canada's side in trade talks because the pressures on the U.S. will only increase. Lutnick said that is "the worst strategy" and the U.S. is...
Free trade negotiations with the United States have always triggered acrimonious and deeply damaging debates in Canada and often exposed political miscalculations at the highest levels. During the 1911 federal election campaign, Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, running on a free trade platform, was denounced in Quebec as a traitor to the French and in Ontario as a traitor to...
This report provides a detailed assessment of Canada's bilateral merchandise trade with China for 2025 — a year defined by structural shifts in export composition from agriculture toward energy and minerals, sharply bifurcated import outcomes as tariff-targeted goods contracted while industrial inputs proved resilient, and persistent geographic concentration and uneven regional distribution. Situating bilateral flows within Canada's broader trade performance...
ICYMI, things aren’t going so good for The Donald. In the “you broke it, you bought it” department, he’s trying to offload a property (the Iran War), bought on spec and not living up to promise, onto a new set of investors (specifically naming China, France, Japan, and South Korea). Turns out they aren’t all that interested in the property...
Jamieson Greer stands like Mount Olympus above the intellectual molehills of his cabinet-level colleagues, to such an extent that one worries for his welfare in the Trump administration. The U.S. Trade Representative spoke at the Hudson Institute think tank on Tuesday, and such was his coherence it was almost possible to set aside that his boss had just threatened to...
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says while it’s unlikely the U.S. administration will hash out all of its trade issues with Canada and Mexico by July 1, he’s optimistic they’ll be resolved as soon as possible. “I think that we aren’t probably going to be able to resolve all issues by July 1, but I think we are on track...
Beijing is pushing Ottawa to back its bid to join a major free trade agreement between Indo-Pacific nations, including Canada, Japan and Australia, according to a Canadian senator who just returned from a diplomatic mission to China. Senator Clement Gignac, who co-chairs the Canada-China Legislative Association, said he in turn urged his Chinese counterparts to lift travel sanctions on Canadian...
Financial institutions from Canada, China discussed monetary policy and other topics. Although Chinese tariffs on Canadian pork products remain in place after a visit to China by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, he says the important task is relationship-building — and it's not realistic to expect immediate solutions. "You cannot just expect in one meeting that you resolve everything," Champagne told...
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the Canada-China relationship is at a unique moment in time as he wrapped up a full day of meetings with top Chinese officials Friday in Beijing. The day saw the two countries sign a joint statement to deepen financial-sector ties. Mr. Champagne led a delegation of Canadian business leaders to China this week, which included...
Champagne says his trip builds on Carney’s visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in January. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is on a trade mission to China, an attempt to woo a crucial trading partner as Canada looks to shore up friends and strengthen the country’s economy. The visit by Champagne builds on a meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and...
Provincial rules around alcohol and the federal government's "Buy Canadian" policy have been flagged in a new report citing several trade irritants between Canada and the U.S. The annual document prepared by the Office of the United States Trade Representative said market access barriers imposed by provincial liquor control boards "greatly hamper" exports of U.S. wine, beer and spirits to...
Along with the 49,000 vehicles arriving in Canada comes insight into China's innovative EV infrastructure. Hundreds of robots hum on a factory floor in Ningbo, just south of Shanghai, their long arms swooping and twisting, welding together different models of custom-ordered electric vehicles (EVs). Robots also move briskly in the corridors delivering parts to different areas of the plant, playing...
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he isn't worried Mexico will sign a trade agreement with the Americans that excludes Canada. LeBlanc says the Mexicans are also committed to a trilateral deal as the countries work to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. Mexico and the U.S. have started formal talks ahead of a July deadline, and earlier this month...
Premier to meet with politicians, business leaders in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is taking a trip to Texas next week, and packing his pro-trade and anti-tariff messages with him. Ford will visit Houston, Dallas and the state capital of Austin during the multi-day trip, which was first reported by The Toronto Star. The premier plans to...
Just as turkeys don’t vote for Christmas, it would be unreasonable to expect Canada’s chicken farmers to elect for more open trade with the world’s major poultry exporter. The chicken sector is, after all, one of this country’s supply-managed industries. It’s protected from most foreign competition, ostensibly in the name of domestic food security but also, whisper it, to ensure...
Alberta Liberal MP Corey Hogan says the Keystone XL pipeline is being used as leverage in the federal government’s ongoing trade talks with the U.S. “I can tell you that Keystone XL and the energy security it would provide the United States has always been one of the cards that Canada has in our deck as we start thinking about...
Democrat Emily Gregory won a special election for a Florida state House seat on Tuesday, flipping a district that is home to President Donald Trump's estate, Mar-a-Lago. The Republican president endorsed Gregory's rival, Jon Maples. In a social media post Monday, he urged voters to turn out, saying Maples was endorsed "by so many of my Palm Beach County friends."...
Canada can protect rules-based international trade and resist pressure from superpowers by working more with the Americas, shoring up supply chains and strengthening economic ties, Costa Rica's trade minister said on a recent visit to Ottawa. "We share the same vision of the type of world that we would like to live in," Manuel Tovar Rivera said in an interview...
While Canada's economy is far more reliant on exports to the U.S. than vice versa, Canadian negotiators have crucial ammunition in their efforts to land a trade deal that reduces or eliminates tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Before Trump launched his tariff war, roughly 76 per cent of Canada's exported goods went to the U.S., while just 1...
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says talks with Canada ahead of the mandatory review of the continental trade pact are lagging behind those with Mexico. Speaking on Fox Business today, Greer says talks are moving ahead with his Mexican counterparts as the Trump administration negotiates changes to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA.
Janice Charette likes to hear from others before she makes an important judgment call, inviting the views of colleagues as though seated around a family dinner table. But these days, fewer and fewer decisions can wait. Shortly before retiring as Canada’s top bureaucrat in June 2023, Charette described the current era of political and economic upheaval as one of permanent...
The Trump administration has expanded its trade investigations to 60 countries, including Canada, in an effort to shore up the president's tariff policies. "We are trying to move very quickly," United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC Friday. "We are trying to move in a matter of months." Greer's office announced Wednesday that it was launching investigations of the...
The Trump administration launched trade investigations of multiple countries Wednesday in an attempt to solidify the president's tariff policies after the Supreme Court struck down his previous efforts to realign global trade. Canada was not included in the list of countries targeted by President Donald Trump's investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Mexico is on the...
Trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. have restarted, but there appears to be no end in sight to the American tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, cars, lumber, copper and more from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. According to new data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute, if half (51%) of Americans had their way, there would be...
War in energy-producing regions often reveals the hidden architecture of globalization. The ongoing US-Iran conflict is doing precisely that. Disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has begun transforming energy trade into “risk trade,” where freight insurance, shipping routes, and geopolitical exposure can become as decisive as underlying supply. For China and other Asia-Pacific importers, this shift has two strategic implications...
The federal Conservatives are pushing to allow Canada Post to ship alcohol between provinces, saying the Liberals have failed to live up to their pledge to remove interprovincial trade barriers. B.C. MP Dan Albas, whose riding includes the Okanagan wine region, has introduced a private member's bill that would amend the Canada Post Corporation Act to remove restrictions on direct...
United States President Donald Trump’s efforts to reset how pharmaceutical firms negotiate drug prices with his government—and the consequences for countries including Canada—were recently discussed at an in-person meeting between pharmaceutical representatives, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Health Minister Marjorie Michel, and Janice Charette, the newly appointed chief trade negotiator to the U.S.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Canada needs to separate its trade talks from its national security concerns when dealing with certain countries if it is serious about diversifying trading partners beyond the United States. Moe joined Prime Minister Mark Carney this week on the first leg of his Indo-Pacific trade tour to India, Australia and Japan. In India, Carney signed...
One year into the trade war, Canadians are feeling more patriotic and more convinced the United States is a worse place under Donald Trump. And as the president dangles the fate of North American free trade above a wood chipper, a split has emerged between business leaders worried about bottom lines and Canadians who are simply over the president’s provocations...
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc sat down with President Donald Trump's trade czar in Washington on Friday as Ottawa continued preparations for a review of the critical continental trade pact. LeBlanc's office said the meeting with United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer included discussions of the upcoming mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA, as well...
PM meets with his Japanese counterpart, automakers while in Tokyo for a day Prime Minister Mark Carney inked a series of agreements with his Japanese counterpart Friday designed to expand and “modernize” the bilateral relationship as he continues his push to develop deeper ties to like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific — now that the Canada-U.S. relationship is on shaky ground...
Negotiations to add digital trade provisions begin Thursday. As relations with the Trump administration remain fraught and uncertain, trade ministers from Canada and the European Union are set to sign on to a series of improvements to their bilateral trade agreement. Maroš Šefčovič, the European Union commissioner for trade and economic security, will join International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu in...
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is set to meet President Donald Trump's trade czar in Washington on Friday, a day after the United States announced it was launching bilateral discussions with Mexico on the review of the continental trade pact. LeBlanc's office said he will be meeting with United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to discuss the upcoming mandatory review...
Rajan Arora is no stranger to trade turmoil between Canada and the US. Just two days after taking over a small steel-producing firm in southern Ontario in 2018, President Donald Trump slapped 25% tariffs on the metal. Business slowed at Roden Manufacturing, creating cash flow problems for the company.
Canada should align its trade and labour regulations with three of its “like-minded” anglophone allies excluding the U.S., says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Speaking in London at the Institute of Directors, a British business group, Poilievre on Tuesday revived an idea previously embraced by past Conservative leaders that Canada should strengthen its ties with its Anglosphere cousins that share the...
Between February 18 and 23, 2026, Abacus Data surveyed 1,500 Canadian adults to understand how Canadians view Prime Minister Mark Carney’s approach to dealing with President Donald Trump and how they see the risks and stakes as the 2026 CUSMA joint review approaches. The results point to a striking and potentially underappreciated dynamic. While business leaders and policy insiders have...
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is applauding a move by India's government to strike a deal with Canada on uranium. Moe is in New Delhi, where he watched Prime Minister Mark Carney ink the deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister’s Office says Carney raised transnational repression with Modi. Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Indian counterpart announced Monday what they’re a calling a “new partnership,” a series of multi-million dollar deals and a commitment to sign a free trade agreement by year’s end as the two look to turn the page on years of frosty bilateral relations marked...
It's Sunday night and I'm updating this before the newsletter launches Monday morning. The world is still absorbing the U.S. lead airstrikes on Iran. There are still more unknowns than knowns. Like you, I'm watching and reading and listening to see what the next phase of this will look like. I have a deep, professional distrust of those who say...
Canada is aiming to sign a comprehensive trade deal with India this year, Prime Minister Mark Carney told a business audience in Mumbai Saturday. "We are now negotiating a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, with the intention to double two-way trade by 2030. Our goal, to be clear, is to sign that agreement by the end of this year," Carney said...
