The announcement on January 9, 2022, that Canada and Taiwan have agreed to launch exploratory discussions toward conclusion of a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) has been a long time coming–and is very timely. It may constitute a down-payment on an Indo-Pacific Strategy that is reportedly under preparation in Ottawa. Discussion of a possible FIPA […]

There is no doubt that free trade policies, and their accompanying open border principles, have taken a political beating in 2015. The vote in the United Kingdom to exit the European Union (Brexit) along with the protectionist and isolationist tone of the U.S. Presidential debate (on both sides) reflect a shift in public support for […]

In the 1980s Canada departed from its uniquely multilateral focus on trade policy and embraced bilateralism. It made sense at the time. The Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations was proceeding very slowly given its complexity and large number of participating countries. Since Canada’s main objective within each multilateral round was to secure better access […]