2 be honest... we love our Asian brothers and sisters.. Canada PM Heads to Asia with Trade Still Top of Mind Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is headed to Asia to push trade and investment as a free trade deal with the European Union remains unfinished. By Nirmala Menon Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is on his way to Southeast Asia, where he’s expected to continue pushing trade and investment with fast-growing economies in the region. Mr. Harper, who left Thursday for Malaysia en route to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Bali, Indonesia next week, has made trade a key part of his economic agenda to boost jobs and growth. He has been pushing for greater trade with key Asian and other emerging markets to reduce Canada’s dependence on the U.S., which absorbs some three-quarters of Canadian exports. It’s an agenda that’s had decidedly mixed success so far. Canada has yet to clinch a major free-trade deal in Asia or elsewhere. A pact with the European Union that’s been over four years in the making has yet to be concluded, although people familiar with the matter say it’s in the final stretch and may be announced within weeks. In a speech two days ago, Tiff Macklem, the Bank of Canada’s senior deputy governor, said emerging markets such as China now account for 80% of global growth, but only 12% of Canadian exports go directly to these nations. Trade Minister Ed Fast, who is traveling with Mr. Harper, will attend ministerial meetings of the APEC bloc and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the U.S.-led grouping of 12 nations that aims to form a free-trade pact spanning the Pacific Ocean. After the APEC Summit, Mr. Fast will head to China, his fourth visit since becoming trade minister in 2011. Mr. Harper’s visit to Malaysia comes as U.S. President Barack Obama canceled his visit to the Southeast Asian nation because of the government shutdown. Mr. Harper’s visit is the first by a Canadian leader since 1996. He is scheduled to meet Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak, their first face-to-face meeting since Ottawa late last year approved a pair of acquisitions of Canadian oil-sands firms by state-owned Chinese and Malaysian companies and then clamped down on future oil-sands takeovers by state-owned companies. stream.wsj/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-345331/
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 22:07:36 +0000
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