CBC Analysis: NAFTA talks forced Canada to pick a side in U.S.-China trade war

Past Event

Canada already knows what it’s like to be caught between the wills of these two Great Powers. How do we manage their fraught relations? How do we cause the minimum damage to our economy and sovereignty, while standing up for what we believe is right? These are questions we will address with Dr. Graham Allison, one-time Assistant Secretary of Defense and founding dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, at our annual Fall Dinner — Nov. 19 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.

Canada can truly diversify its trade and break its dependence on a single partner by pursuing a strategy built on sectoral trade agreements with China. 

Recap of the first meeting of PPF's Canada-China Forum includes presentations on public opinion by Bruce Anderson of Abacus Data and sectoral trade by Wendy Dobson of University of Toronto

Members of the Public Policy Forum’s Canada-China forum seek a balanced approach to engagement with China that is economically beneficial and politically acceptable to Canadians

In this opinion piece, Thomas Walkom tries to answer the question - How can Canada break its dependence on the United States? A question that has bedeviled both the left and the right since 1945. He writes that PPF's Report “Diversification not Dependence,” makes a compelling case for Canada to escape the “honey trap” of its reliance on the U.S. by moving quickly to boost both economic and political relations with China.

Business in Vancouver's Chuck Chiang writes about PPF latest report "Diversification Not Dependence: A Made-in-Canada China Strategy." The report says Canada should turn to sectoral agreements - that is, deals focusing on specific industries like agriculture and energy - in growing business links with China in light of the perceived “U.S. veto” clause in the new USMCA North American free-trade agreement.

PPF's Edward Greenspon and the Vice-Chair of the BMO Financial Group Kevin Lynch share their opinion on Canada-China trade in this Maclean's op-ed. They discuss how the Canadian government must diversify its economy, and China is the obvious target. But that there are risks with such a partnership.

Andy Blatchford writes that the authors of the PPF report "Diversification Not Dependence: A Made-in-Canada Strategy" argue that Canada can do more business with China 'in such a way that should not offend' the U.S. through a a surgical, sector-by-sector approach.

In this Globe and Mail op-ed, our Forum on China co-chairs argue that with rules-based trade down South on the fritz, it really is time to look elsewhere and that includes China.