International Trade committee  I think most of the common ones would be around agriculture and agricultural products. Again, agriculture is a sensitive sector for most economies in the region. If you're going to ASEAN, and India in particular, I think you'll find that out. That's just the nature of how their economy has grown, or how it exists.

International Trade committee  Well, it's easy to say that we have probably the largest freshwater resources in the world. When I was a trade commissioner and I went out to market Canada, I often would say, “Look, we have lots of land. We have lots of water. We can grow a lot of products.” A lot of the issue is trade barriers and how we can choose the markets we want to go to and how we can get into those markets.

International Trade committee  I would agree with what he said.

International Trade committee  Well, in the context of CPTPP, a lot of the non-tariff trade barriers were addressed. It doesn't necessarily mean that they don't emerge in various ways. That's because the agreement is complex, and in many cases it's technical. I think the big markets we're talking about need to be addressed in a Canada-ASEAN free trade agreement.

International Trade committee  Wow, that's getting pretty specific. In the context of my experience in the markets in Asia I've worked in and also through the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, we do fairly good business. I'll give you an example. A lot of the aerospace products we sell into India are components that go on airplanes.

International Trade committee  I would agree with what Dennis is saying. I can say that now, because I'm not part of the government anymore. You always have to understand what your leverage is. Right now it's in the context of a bilateral relationship. By allowing the U.K. to accede before having completed the necessary elements of a bilateral problem, you are ceding some of your leverage.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Arya. I think you're hitting on a very important point, but the reality is that we have companies that are doing business on a day-to-day basis that have to deal with tariffs and non-tariff barriers in countries. I think that in the future, in particular if you take a look at the Canadian economy and how we're evolving, a lot of the technology that's driving our competitiveness and our effectiveness in the global marketplace needs to be considered in the context of how we're doing business.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, members of the Standing Committee on International Trade. I'm here today to discuss the pressing issue of non-tariff barriers in international trade. As a former high commissioner to India, I was there when we initiated negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with that country, which unfortunately did not come to fruition.