VANCOUVER — Canada will try to join a burgeoning new Pacific Rim trading bloc after turning down an initial invitation and then having the welcome mat removed, Asia-Pacific Minister Stockwell Day said Wednesday.
Day was defending the Conservative government’s approach to expanding trade relationships in the region, despite what critics view as a blunder.
“We have indicated our interest very strongly,” Day said after speaking at a dinner marking the 25th anniversary of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a Vancouver-based think-tank.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership was set up in 2006 and initially included New Zealand, Singapore, Chile and Brunei.
Negotiations now are underway to expand the group, led by the United States and including Australia, Peru and Vietnam, with Russia as a potential partner.
International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan this week denied Canada had been rebuffed after its change of heart, or that Canada had even asked to join the talks. But Day suggested Canada wants in.
“It’s not for us to make that decision, it’s for the people in the relationship itself,” he said. “So we have indicated we would like to be a part of that and we’re going to see where that goes.”
The government reportedly opted not to participate initially out of concern it would force the opening of Canada’s quota-protected dairy industry to cheap imports from New Zealand’s powerful dairy co-operative.
Canadian export groups have slammed the decision, said to have been made for fear of alienating voters among Ontario and Quebec dairy producers.
The United States is one of the prime movers in the partnership, though some American politicians are also leery of opening the door to New Zealand dairy imports.
“The United States weren’t necessarily looking to include partners that they already had a free-trade agreement with,” Day said.
The Asia-Pacific Foundation’s president, Yuen Pau Woo, who praised Day’s work at the dinner, criticized the Canada’s decision on the Trans-Pacific Partnership in an opinion-page article in Wednesday’s Globe and Mail. Canada runs a risk of being left out of new institutions in the region, he warned.
Day said Canada already belongs to a number of Asia-Pacific forums.
“I think in any area of endeavour there’s more that can be done; that’s why we continue to do more,” he said.
“The fact is trade continues to increase with the Asia Pacific. Two-way investment continues to increase; student exchanges, visa exchanges. Tourism is going up.”
Day told the dinner audience that since the foundation was set up in 1985, two-way trade with China has grown from around $6 billion a year to $52 billion.
Much of Canada’s expanded Asia-Pacific presence is due to the historic personal relationships built by the country’s ethnically diverse business sector, he noted.
However, in his article, Woo said while booming exports are seen as proof of trade diversification, much of it is due to higher prices for commodities and that Canada is losing market share in many Asian countries.
Day also said Canada is considering what help to send to China to deal with a massive earthquake that killed at least 600 people in a mountainous region of Tibet.
He said he spoke with China’s consul-general in Vancouver on Wednesday.
“The prime minister has also indicated we’ll be in discussions to see if there’s some ways we can help,” he said.
Canada sent substantial aid to Sichuan province when a quake killed 90,000 people two years ago, Day said. Individual Canadians will also likely open their wallets, as they did for Sichuan and Haiti, he added.