A new free trade agreement for Canada?

A new free trade agreement could eventually emerge between Canada and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. “ASEAN as a regional trading block represents a significant economic presence in Asia. In 2017, the ten members of ASEAN had a combined GDP of US$2.8 trillion (CA$3.6 trillion) and a population of 643 million.”

Following the sixth consultation meeting between Canada and ASEAN members, both parties agreed to launch exploratory discussions on a possible free trade agreement. To this end, the Canadian government has just launched consultations with Canadians. “The focus of consultations is to determine how Canada should best proceed regarding a possible FTA with ASEAN. This would include how to best improve market access, legal certainty and transparency for Canadian business, but also to understand any other related issues and concerns that are relevant when considering a possible FTA.”

Individuals, businesses, industry associations and more are invited to participate in the consultations until October 16, 2018. For more information on the public consultations, you can visit the Government of Canada website and the Canada Gazette notice.

Canada is expanding its free trade agreements

It should be recalled that Canada signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in March 2018 and also concluded a free trade agreement with the European Union in September 2017.

For some time now, the Canadian government has been making several trade partners and therefore seems to want to continue on this path by wanting to penetrate the Southeast Asian market. It should also be noted that Canada is pursuing exploratory discussions with China on the possibility of launching negotiations on a free trade agreement.