Free trade is one of the political and economic principles that comes closest to having unanimity for Canadians. Yet we also cannot ignore the fact that not everyone is a good faith subscriber to the rules and behaviours that underpin the ideal of free trade. I am thinking in particular of China.
China looms large in any discussion of free trade both because of its sheer size and because of Canada’s vulnerability in its free trade relationship with the United States, as demonstrated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-NAFTA rhetoric and the depth of our dependence on the U.S. market.
