Canada's Trade Policy Developments after NAFTA: Sources and Implications

Abstract

AbstractThis article argues that Canada's trade policy developments after NAFTA have been influenced by the stalemate in multilateral liberalization and the discriminative nature of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) that have proliferated during the last 25 years. First, the impasse in the Doha Round of negotiations made Canada consider regional and bilateral options of opening up new markets as an alternative to multilateral liberalization. Second, the discriminative nature of PTAs accelerated the process of Canada's regional and bilateral liberalization, as PTAs have diverted trade away from Canada, prompting it to pursue its own preferential trade initiatives to level the playing field for Canadian businesses.