The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance has hired a new interim executive director. Adam Taylor joined the national organization that represents trade-dependent sectors of Canadian agriculture, effective February 20. Taylor is the president and co-founder of the Ottawa-based trade consulting firm Export Action Global, and was a senior advisor to federal cabinet ministers, including former trade… Read More
Tag: Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced several new pieces of the Canadian government’s yet-to-be-released Indo-Pacific Strategy while in Thailand for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting on Friday. The announcement included $31.8 million designated to establish Canada’s first agriculture trade office in the region to “increase and diversify agriculture and agri-food exports to the… Read More
We all know the importance of trade, maintaining trade relationships, and what happens when those relationships hit road blocks. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12) wrapped up June 15, in Geneva, Switzerland, where ministers from across the world attended to review the current trade system. Greg Northey, director of industry relations at Pulse… Read More
The alliance representing Canada’s export-oriented agriculture sectors is welcoming a decision by countries in the CPTPP to formally begin negotiations to have the United Kingdom join the trade agreement formerly known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In a virtual meeting hosted by Japan on Tuesday, Canada’s trade minister, Mary Ng, and her counterparts from the other… Read More
If Canada is to make the most of its potential as an agriculture trading super power, signing trade deals isn’t enough — our government needs to ensure these deals deliver on their promise. When it comes to current trade deals, including the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), Canada’s export-dependent farmers and agri-food value chains say… Read More
The Canada-United Kingdom transitional trade deal announced in a virtual press conference on Saturday by Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and Boris Johnson and their respective trade ministers is a “welcome stop gap measure, but it is not enough,” says the president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA). The deal — which requires Parliamentary approval… Read More
Three years into the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU, Canadian exporters are fed up with the EU using non-tariff trade barriers, red tape, and protectionist measures to keep Canadian products out of the union. In what was supposed to be an incredibly lucrative, two-way exchange of goods, CETA has delivered… Read More
The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) has asked four cabinet ministers to push for progress on the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), on the three year anniversary of the agreement coming into force. In a letter sent to Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng, Minister of Finance Chrystia… Read More
The president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is sounding the alarm surrounding the lack of trade being done with the European Union since Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) came into effect two years ago. “When CETA was first signed, agri-food exporters were promised a means to increase exports by billions… Read More
Like other relationships, export markets take time, energy, and diplomacy to develop and maintain. Agriculture trade can be impacted by politics that have very little to do with farming and food, and big-picture friction in the short-term could threaten years of hard work. Just as good news rolls in on reduced tariffs for Canadian agriculture… Read More
The federal government has made it very clear that it expects Canadian agriculture to grow, scale-up, and increase production — for both domestic and international markets. China is a key destination for several Canadian commodities, and a trade mission this week is yielding some very positive results. Last week, Canada sent four high-level ministers to… Read More
The long, drawn out NAFTA negotiations really weighed heavily on the nerves of agricultural exporters. The fear of losing the U.S. market or the real threat of the border possibly becoming thicker was a huge stress for beef, pork, oilseed, and cereal producers. The news, then, that there is a trilateral deal to be ratified… Read More
Although the European Union is currently experiencing significant political shifts within its body of countries, it is still one of the world’s leading economic blocks and is very attractive to exporters from around the world. Its history of protectionism, with tariffs and import quotas on agricultural products, is well documented. This makes trade with the… Read More
The Canadian government intends to table legislation to ratify the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) before the House of Commons rises for summer. International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne appeared before the House trade committee on Tuesday morning, where he confirmed the government’s plan to bring forward the bill to implement the Pacific trade… Read More
Negotiators have made some progress on agriculture-related topics during the third round of NAFTA negotiations in Ottawa this week. A full day of discussions on agriculture took place on Tuesday, with more planned for Wednesday. The U.S. introduced a “consolidated text” for agriculture, compiled from the three countries’ individual submissions, according to a source who… Read More