Canada seeks stronger commercial bonds with EU amid Trump threats

Canada wants to deepen its economic ties with the European Union and maintain the rules of global trade in the face of the threat of import tariffs from the United States, Minister of Commerce, Mary NG, told Reuters on Saturday.

The EU and Canada have benefited from a free trade agreement since 2017, which increased by bilateral trade by 65%, and established a partnership of raw materials in 2021.

NG met with the EU chief of commerce, Maros Sefcovic, for a lunch on Saturday, after a meeting with the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in Geneva, on Friday.

“Business agreements are one thing, and we have seen really excellent numbers, but what else we can do to help Canadian companies enter any of the 27 member states … And what else can we do for it in Canada?”

She said essential minerals and small businesses would be among the EU focus areas. The European bloc, in particular, is interested in forming partnerships to ensure metals that are fundamental to energy transition – cobalt, lithium and nickel – and reduce its dependence on China.

Canada is also striving to diversify its exports and set a goal in 2018 to increase exports beyond the United States by 50% by 2025. NG said the country is on the right track to reach or exceed the goal.

Canada closed trade agreements with Indonesia in December and Ecuador last week and is hardly striving in the Indo-Pacific region. The minister will lead a delegation with over 200 companies in Australia, Singapore and Brunei next week.

“We are at the negotiation table with the countries of Southeast Asia. I took a large delegation of Canadian companies to the Philippines in December, to Indonesia, for markets like Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, ”added NG.

Ottawa threatened the imposition of retaliatory tariffs and legal actions against the United States after President Donald Trump announced tariffs about Canada and Mexico a week ago and before suspending the measure for 30 days. NG said Canada could contest Washington on the WTO if the tariffs were imposed.