TORONTO – Canada is open to increasing trade relations with China now that it has finalized an agreement between the United States and Mexico, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today.
Trudeau says he will continue to look at Canada’s trading relationship with China in “thoughtful ways” and that the world’s second largest economy remains an important place to do business and look for opportunity.
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The prime minister made the comments during a keynote interview at the Fortune Global Forum in Toronto.
Under the newly agreed U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), all countries need to notify their trading partners if they engage in a free trade agreement with any “non-market economies”, including China.
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Trudeau says the clause is now “reciprocal” among Canada, U.S. and Mexico.
He added that the USMCA has helped Canada secure “preferential access” to the U.S. market, and that it helped eliminate uncertainty in the economy.