Internal Trade Minister Anita Anand informed the provinces and territories Friday that Ottawa will remove more than half of federal internal trade barriers in a move to make Canada less reliant on the United States.
Anand made the announcement at an informal, virtual meeting of the Committee on Internal Trade, which is responsible for implementing the Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).
Ottawa is removing 20 of the 39 remaining federal CFTA exceptions related to government procurement to encourage more trade and opportunities for Canadian businesses across the country.
The move comes a little more than a week before Canada could be hit with punishing tariffs from its largest trading partner.
Anand has said previously that U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats have brought a new sense of urgency to knock down Canada’s internal trade barriers as never before.
Diana Gibson, economic development minister for British Columbia, said the federal changes will encourage other jurisdictions to remove their own red tape blocking trade.
“It’s really great to see the federal government coming to the table with such substantive movement,” Gibson said. “I applaud Minister Anand for bringing this forward and really showing this leadership at this moment.”
Gibson said B.C. is preparing to introduce changes within the next week to make trade easier.
More changes expected in coming week, could boost economy by $200B
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce called Anand’s announcement encouraging, but noted that exceptions to the CFTA aren’t the only barriers to trade within Canada.
“Now is the time for provinces to push forward on broad mutual recognition, streamlining the regulations and standards that make the cross-country flow of workers and goods needlessly difficult,” said Randall Zalazar, director of government relations at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
“In the face of tariffs and serious trade disruptions, capitalizing on the benefits of internal trade is too important to miss out on.”
Removing all internal trade protections could lower prices by up to 15 per cent, boost productivity by up to seven per cent and add up to $200 billion to the domestic economy, according to Anand.
Ottawa says it’s removed 64 per cent of federal exceptions in the agreement, but has not yet released a list of the 20 newly removed exceptions.
Last July, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the removal of 17 federal exceptions from the CFTA, also related to federal procurement.
Canada is responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of massive tariffs on Canadian imports with retaliatory tariffs of its own. Andrew Chang explains how tariffs — and a possible trade war — could impact the economy, businesses, and consumers both north and south of the border.
Images gathered from Reuters, Getty Images, and The Canadian…
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