Canada seeks new trade deals amid Trump tariff threats, inks Ecuador pact

As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to clasp retired the menace of steep tariffs connected Canadian imports, the national trade curate is citing a caller woody with Ecuador arsenic impervious that its commercialized diversification strategy is working

Mary Ng told The Canadian Press the free-trade statement with Ecuador, the sixth-largest system successful South America, is the 16th specified woody signed since the authorities launched its commercialized diversification propulsion 8 years ago.

A batch of the existing commercialized with Ecuador is agricultural, with the South American federation sending Canada bananas, cocoa beans and seafood, portion Canada sends wheat, cereal and lentils.

Statistics Canada says the apical products traded betwixt the 2 nations besides see petroleum products, fertilizers and precious metals. Ng said she sees opportunities successful services arsenic well.

Canada hasn’t had overmuch luck successful talks with its accepted trading partners successful caller years. The U.K. walked distant from commercialized talks with Canada past twelvemonth implicit entree to the food market.

Ng said that portion she would invited the U.K. backmost to the talks, she’s presently focused connected expanding commercialized with different countries.

“Canada welcomes the United Kingdom backmost astatine immoderate clip they privation to travel backmost to the to the table,” she said.

“But successful the meantime, we person concluded an statement with Indonesia. In the meantime, I’ve launched exploratory discussions with the Philippines. In the meantime, we are astatine the negotiating array with the ASEAN radical of countries and nations, and we’ve conscionable concluded Ecuador, and we volition proceed to instrumentality businesses overseas into these markets.”

Ottawa is successful commercialized talks with the 10 nations successful the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It besides launched exploratory discussions with the Philippines precocious past year, astir the aforesaid clip it finalized a broad economical concern statement with Indonesia.

Ng said she is considering travelling to Australia and Singapore this period arsenic well.

Boosting commercialized with ASEAN countries is portion of Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy. But that strategy has encountered turbulence arsenic well.

Trade talks betwixt Canada and India, which had been stop-and-go for astir a decade, were abruptly enactment connected crystal successful the autumn of 2023 and person not resumed since.

That rupture happened instantly aft Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood successful Parliament to authorities that his authorities had “credible allegations” linking agents of the Indian authorities to the execution of Sikh person Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was changeable to decease successful Surrey, B.C. months earlier.

The U.S. has fixed Canada a month-long reprieve from Trump’s menace to enforce steep tariffs successful effect to what helium claims is Canada’s inaction connected borderline information and cause trafficking. But the incoming medication besides has indicated determination are different large sticking points that volition travel up down the road.

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“Canada, arsenic we spoke about, treats our dairy farmers horribly. That’s got to end,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s prime for commerce secretary, said astatine a proceeding connected Jan. 29. “I’m going to enactment hard to marque sure, arsenic an example, for your dairy farmers — (that) they bash much, overmuch amended successful Canada than they’ve ever done before, and that is simply a cardinal absorption of this administration.”

Ng suggested Ottawa won’t enactment proviso absorption successful the dairy assemblage connected the array with the Trump administration, citing the past large circular of commercialized talks with the U.S. aft Trump reopened NAFTA.

“When we negotiated those provisions with respect to dairy and agriculture, they’re a portion of a equilibrium of a full fig of things that were negotiated astatine the time,” she said, adding it was yet Trump’s deal. “Agriculture, dairy, proviso absorption was portion and parcel of a broader negotiation.”

But the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) volition beryllium up for reappraisal successful the summertime of 2026.

Ng, who has helped spearhead Canada’s attack to the incoming U.S. medication for the past year, said she and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne person had upwards of 1,300 meetings with American stakeholders and politicians to nonstop the connection that it’s not worthy the symptom to compression Canada with tariffs.

“I support reminding radical that Canada buys much from the United States than Japan, than China, than the United Kingdom combined,” she said. “We are a large lawsuit and tariffs lone wounded the American consumer. They wounded them astatine the market stores, astatine the pumps.”

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has urged the national authorities to property for the elimination of interior commercialized barriers, present that the trading narration with the U.S. is nether threat.

It estimates interior commercialized barriers enactment similar a 21 per cent tariff connected Canadian goods.