Canada Willing to Stall Trade Deal with China until China is More Reasonable

Canada is willing to stall a potential trade deal with China until China starts behaving better, according to CBC News. Canada’s ambassador to China says a trade pact doesn’t seem likely to be reached until China shows flexibility on controversial policies. Ambassador John McCallum says right now, much of the work on a potential trade agreement is focusing on “bridging policy gaps” on agricultural market access and political policies. He said last week: “We are doing our best to persuade China to behave in what we would regard as more reasonable.” Canada is working to reach an agreement with China, despite new provisions in the updated North American Free Trade Agreement that seek to block trade pacts with China. The NAFTA 2.0, renamed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement, includes language that allows the nations of the agreement to withdraw from the pact if another nation created a trade agreement with China. However, Canada maintains that doesn’t stop them from engaging with China, and the USMCA is not yet finalized.