Directions for Canadian trade policy: A private sector view

Abstract

Although the great Canadian free trade debate appears to be waning, trade policy will remain a central preoccupation of Canadian governments over the next decade. The responsibility for changing Canada from a “trading nation” into a “nation of traders” must fall on Canadian managers and entrepreneurs. In the coming years, government's biggest impact will come not through trade development programs ‐ although good programs do bring modest benefits ‐ but through the steady pursuit of a handful of mutually reinforcing trade policy objectives: multilateral liberalization, a revitalized GATT trade relations system, market‐opening regional arrangements, and closer commercial relations with high‐potential countries (particularly in Asia Pacific).