Canada Asks To Join IPEF Trade Discussions

According to several news reports, the Canadian government has asked to join U.S.-led Indo-Pacific trade talks. The request comes after months of pressure from Canadian business leaders to sign on to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) negotiations that began in June 2022.

As The Globe and Mail reported, this summer Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had played down Canada’s initial exclusion from the talks, arguing that the fact that Canada is a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) meant it did not need to see more access to the Indo-Pacific region.

As Connecting the Dots reported in June when negotiations were announced, White House officials said the framework will look beyond the usual parameters of a trade agreement and address barriers to growth, including broken supply chains and outdated infrastructure, that have contributed to increased consumer costs. The countries engaged in IPEF discussions also hope the pact will help counter China’s growing economic and national security influence in the world.

Negotiations with partner countries will revolve around four topics, with the work in the United States being split between the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Department of Commerce. USTR will handle talks on a “fair” trade pillar that will likely would likely include efforts to protect U.S. workers from job losses. The Commerce Department will oversee negotiations on the other three pillars, which are supply chain resiliency, infrastructure and climate change, and tax and anti-corruption.

Currently, the other countries involved are: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Thailand.