International Trade Committee on March 26th, 2026

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 29 of the Standing Committee on International Trade.

Before we go to our witnesses, we have an administrative item. We are hosting the Swiss Speaker, I believe, in a few weeks' time, and we would like agreement to cover the hospitality expenses.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, February 12, 2026, the committee is resuming its study of Canada's trade with Mercosur countries.

We have with us today, from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Mr. Evan Lewis; from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Axel Ndayisaba; and from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, we again have with us Mr. Aaron Fowler, and also Ms. Justine Smith.

Welcome to the committee.

I understand that there are two opening statements.

Mr. Fowler, I'll invite you to make the first statement.

[Aaron Fowler, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, International Trade Branch and Chief Trade Negotiator, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

Thank you very much, Mr. Vice-Chair. Good morning to you and to the other members of the committee.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear again and to address you on this important topic.

As you know, I'm the associate ADM for international trade at Global Affairs Canada and chief trade negotiator. I am here today primarily in my capacity as the chief negotiator for the Canada-Mercosur FTA.

Mr. Vice-Chair, I'm pleased to be here to talk to you about strengthening and diversifying Canada's trade relations with the Mercosur countries.

Last fall, the Prime Minister launched a new trade diversification strategy with the goal of doubling Canada’s non‑U.S. exports over the next decade. The case for diversifying Canada’s trade has never been clearer.

In the context of trade diversification, Mercosur is an important partner. Together, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay have a combined GDP of more than $4 trillion Canadian and represent a market of over 270 million people.

The government is strengthening trade and investment ties with this high-potential market. This includes expanding critical minerals collaboration with Argentina and Brazil and leveraging the trade commissioner service to identify opportunities in priority sectors such as agriculture, mining and clean technology.

The committee will recall that trade negotiations between Canada and Mercosur first began in 2018 and were later paused with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fall of 2025, in the context of trade diversification, Minister Sidhu and his Brazilian counterpart announced the resumption of negotiations towards a Canada-Mercosur FTA that would secure commercial opportunities by establishing preferential market access, along with predictable rules for Canadian businesses.

Shortly thereafter, at the G20 leaders summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Carney and Brazilian President Lula agreed to intensify those negotiations. Negotiations have now resumed and are proceeding expeditiously, with the objective of concluding negotiations on a commercially meaningful agreement as quickly as possible and ideally sometime this year.

Most recently, negotiators held a round of negotiations in Brasília at the end of February and will hold another round at the end of April. Technically, that round at the end of February was the eighth round of negotiations, but it was the first round held in over six years. The next round will be officially the ninth round.

A set of public consultations was held from December to January to supplement consultations carried out earlier in the process. Through that, Canadian stakeholders have indicated that a Canada-Mercosur FTA could unlock opportunities in important sectors, including agriculture and agri-food, industrial machinery, pharmaceuticals and plastics. Stakeholders have also indicated the potential to create important opportunities for Canadian service exporters, for example, environmental and engineering services.

As negotiations advance, the government is committed to working closely with all interested stakeholders with the goal of creating real opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses, strengthening supply chains, expanding access to diverse and reliable markets and making life more affordable for Canadians.

Thank you. I look forward to your questions.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

Thank you, Mr. Fowler.

Mr. Lewis, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Evan Lewis, Senior Director, Market Access Secretariat, Canadian Food Inspection Agency]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Vice-Chair and members of the committee, thank you for giving me the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

My name is Evan Lewis. I'm the senior director in the market access secretariat.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is responsible for co-leading the negotiations of obligations on sanitary and phytosanitary measures alongside officials from Global Affairs Canada in free trade agreements. We do so in close collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, including Canada's chief agriculture negotiator.

SPS measures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, are the requirements that are applied by a country to goods in international trade for the protection of food safety, animal health and plant health. SPS measures can take many forms, such as requiring products to come from a pest-free or disease-free area and inspecting products to verify that they meet Canada's food safety requirements.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is also responsible for administering the Government of Canada’s Health of Animals Act and the Health of Animals Regulations, which govern the control of animal diseases and toxic substances. These requirements stipulate that animal health import requirements must be based on the scientific evidence of the risk of that import, which is determined by the animal disease status of the originated country or the method of processing to mitigate disease risks.

Similarly, under the Safe Food for Canadians Act, Canada's strict food safety requirements prohibit the import of unsafe food. Imports of meat must adhere to both Canada's food safety and animal health requirements. These strong animal health and food safety requirements apply within Canada as well. This enables Canadian exporters to compete on the global stage, offering high-quality and safe meat products to customers around the world.

I want to emphasize that none of Canada's free trade agreements compromise the right of the Government of Canada to take the SPS measures necessary for the protection of food safety, animal health and plant health. Simply stated, Canada's trade obligations do not diminish the strength of Canada's food safety, animal health and plant health requirements for imported goods.

Canada's trade obligations on sanitary and phytosanitary measures require that the Government of Canada apply its SPS measures in a fair manner that does not discriminate between imported and domestic goods or between imported goods from different countries. These trade obligations also require Canada to apply SPS measures in a manner that is transparent, to base SPS measures on scientific risk, and to take SPS measures that are the least trade-restrictive as possible while achieving Canada's appropriate level of protection.

Lastly, Canada's FTA has established co-operation mechanisms for regulators to address and avoid unnecessary trade impediments.

This concludes my opening remarks. I'd be happy to answer any questions the committee may have.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

Thank you, Mr. Lewis.

I will remind committee members that our first round is six minutes.

I'll start with Mr. Mantle.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for their testimony.

Mr. Fowler, you mentioned a February negotiating round with Mercosur. Could you briefly tell us the top highlights from that round of discussions?

[Aaron Fowler]

I'll do my very best.

It was the first round that we held in more than six years, as I indicated. I wouldn't normally get into negotiating dynamics in detail in a forum like this, but I think it's reasonable to say that in the six years since we had last met with Mercosur, there have been important developments, both in industrial and trade policy in Canada and in the Mercosur members; evolutions in terms of how we approach negotiations; and examples and precedents established through the conclusion of agreements that weren't in place when we were last at the negotiating table. We spent a lot of time at the last round going through what had already been discussed and what had already been agreed, and determining whether any of those developments in Canada or in Mercosur partners required us to go back and take another look at texts that may have already been agreed on or proposed by one of the partners earlier in the negotiations.

I would describe this as sort of a level-setting round in many respects, which isn't to say that we didn't achieve substantive progress at the negotiating table. However, I think there was enough underbrush that had grown up that needed to be cleared away that it was a very good use of our time.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you.

Could give me one top issue that needs to be worked out that arose during this? What was the top concern that the Mercosur countries raised with Canada?

[Aaron Fowler]

I don't think I would characterize it as a raising of concerns. We have interests, obviously, in Mercosur, and we made sure to communicate those clearly. They have interests they want to see addressed in Canada: Those were communicated to us. They have recently concluded important free trade agreements, including with the European Union. Argentina concluded a bilateral agreement with the United States.

We took advantage of the opportunity to ensure that we understood those outcomes, and to stress what the forward path would look like in terms of critical milestones, like exchanging tariff offers, services offers, improvements and scheduling future rounds. There were a lot of logistical—

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

You mentioned issues, or interests, as you said. Could you just tell me one or two of the interests that they identified for you?

[Aaron Fowler]

We had detailed discussions about market access for merchandise products and agriculture services, how we would protect investment. They have—

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

That's everything.

[Aaron Fowler]

Well, it is a comprehensive free trade agreement, so, yes, we had multiple tables meeting.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

You mentioned a public consultation that took place. Would you be willing to provide the committee with copies of those submissions?

[Aaron Fowler]

I would be happy to summarize them. In fact, I could give you an overview now if it would be of interest to you.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

I'd prefer a written overview, if you could. I have limited time.

[Aaron Fowler]

I understand.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Lewis, and maybe Mr. Fowler wants to add to this as well, we've heard from several agricultural witnesses at this committee who have raised SPS concerns about the Mercosur countries. In particular, the Canadian Cattle Association essentially said that Mercosur's animal health standards are not sufficient for food safety.

Do you agree with that assessment, or do you take a different view? Could you give us your response to some of these concerns, and assure us that food coming into Canada will be safe?

[Evan Lewis]

I'm happy to take that question. Thank you.

None of our free trade agreements impact or impede the ability and, in fact, the obligation of the CFIA to make sure that imported food and other products meet Canada's stringent requirements. Canada assesses the ability of our trading partners to meet those requirements, based on a thorough assessment of the facts and the science at hand. Our current approvals for import of products from Mercosur countries reflect that, and they will continue to reflect a sound assessment of science moving forward.

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Thank you.

I have about a minute and a half left. Mr. Fowler, maybe you'd want to give me, in 30 seconds or in a written response.... While I have you, I'd like to ask about Ukraine and an update on Canada's trade with Ukraine. We just passed the anniversary of the invasion. Can you give us a brief update?

[Aaron Fowler]

I will give you a brief update now, and I'm happy to supplement this after.

As you know, in July 2024 the modernized Canada-Ukraine FTA entered into force. The key features of that agreement were to maintain the terms of market access, particularly for goods that were contained in the initial 2017 agreement between the two countries. The modernized agreement upgrades commitments in the investment chapter with respect to services trade, temporary entry of business people, and financial services. Digital trade introduces chapters on trade and gender and trade and indigenous peoples.

The impact on bilateral trade up to this point is very difficult to distinguish because, of course, commercial relations with Ukraine are heavily impacted by the ongoing conflict and Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. The new services and investment provisions in particular have been difficult to assess in light of that situation. We will certainly be well situated to engage with Ukraine following the conflict, including for reconstruction.

We'd be happy to provide periodic updates to the committee in respect of that relationship.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Adam Chambers]

Thank you, Mr. Fowler.

Mr. Lavoie, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Steeve Lavoie, Liberal, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd also like to thank the witnesses for travelling to be with us today.

My first question is for you, Mr. Fowler. Please excuse me, but I'm going to provide some background before asking my question.

As part of the study on Canada's trade relations with the Mercosur countries, we heard from people in the chicken and beef industries, who shared their concerns with us, and they are entirely legitimate. During a discussion with Ms. Citeau, vice-president of the Canadian Meat Council responsible for international trade, she told me that there were agreements with Asian countries and that she wanted to focus more on that market, but that there had been nearly 25% growth in Mexico. That surprised me.

Why has there been such significant growth in Mexico, while it's more difficult with Mercosur? Her answer was very interesting. She spoke of a free trade agreement built on 20 to 25 years of trade that is now, inevitably, yielding results.

So here's my question to you: Whether it's for chicken farmers or other meat producers who are concerned today, could this trade agreement, although it may be threatening in the short term, be beneficial in the medium or long term, just like the agreement with Mexico, which seems to be bearing fruit and generating significant growth 20 or 25 years later?