Canada’s Progressive Trade Agenda and a Free Trade Agreement with China

CBC Report.2 On the surface, there would seem to be an irreconcilable difference of opinion between Canada and China when it comes to the question of what should be covered in a trade agreement between the two countries. [...] This article, inserted at the insistence of the United States, states that any of the three North American partners contemplating negotiation of a trade agreement with a non- market economy, must inform the other two partners in advance of their intentions and objectives, and share the text of any draft agreement prior to its conclusion. [...] In the case of a rejection, the partner that has signed the agreement has the option of either renouncing it or being, in effect, expelled from the USMCA. [...] An agreement with Canada would provide China with a trade foothold in North America, in the U. S.’s backyard which in part explains the reason for the U. S. insistence on including this limitation on the ability of Canada and Mexico to conclude an agreement with China, at least for now. [...] Given the relative economic weights of Taiwan versus China, the mainland holds the leverage, and has made it plain (at least in the past) that while it does not object to bilateral agreements between Taiwan (known in WTO parlance as the “Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Jinmen and Mazu”) and other countries, such an agreement should only come after the country in question has first reached a b