CD Howe Institute recommends trade focus
Thursday, August 18th, 2005 - 2:47 pm
Ottawa - In a report released Aug 17, 2005, Danielle Goldfarb recommends Canada take account of how much business it does with its trading partners before rushing into free trade agreements with relatively minor players.
Her Executive Summary opens thus:
Ottawa has expressed concern that the recent wave of U.S. bilateral free trade agreements dilutes Canada’s
tariff-free access to the U.S. market. This Commentary analyzes the effects of the U.S. bilateral free trade agreement strategy on Canadian interests. The U.S. agreements establish precedents and new rules without Canada at the table, and add to the “spaghetti bowl” of international trade rules. They may also undermine multilateral free trade efforts in which Canada has a large stake, and share Canada’s duty-free access to the U.S. more widely. However, partner countries have economies marginal to Canadian interests and U.S. average duties are low to start with, so the overall effects of current U.S. free trade agreements on Canadian interests are likely to be relatively minor.
The Globe and Mail gives the report a half-column of coverage (page B6 - Aug 17) and gives Ms. Goldfarb space on the Comment page (A17 - Aug 17) to present her argument. Goldfarb is Senior Policy Analyst at the think tank. “U.S. Bilateral Free Trade Accords: Why Canada Should Be Cautious About Going the Same Route” fills the entire 30-page August issue of the Howe Institute’s Commentary, and is available at their web site.
The US finally signed the contentious CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement) which represents an insignificant portion of total USA international trade. The USA has also signed bilateral agreements with Chile, Singapore, Australia, Morocco and Bahrain and has negotiations under way with 12 more countries.
Ottawa is pursuing FTA’s with the European Free Trade Association, the Central American 4, and Singapore - all of which appear stalled at present - and is opening talks with South Korea.
