Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have a question for Mr. Beck.
You were the Canadian high commissioner in India when I was actively involved with the Indo-Canada Ottawa Business Chamber. One thing I should say is that the comprehensive economic partnership agreement did not fail because of you. We know there are bigger issues surrounding that.
I just want to bring to your notice that last week, the United States national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, gave a talk. I thought the national security advisor of the United States would be more concerned with terrorism, cybercrimes and the wars that are going on, but he talked about the international economic agenda. He brought in the current United States international policy, which integrates with its domestic economic policy and foreign policy. He talked about how all these things integrate.
One strategy he mentioned was “moving beyond traditional trade deals to innovative new international economic partnerships focused on the core challenges of our time.” He said, “We do intend to pursue modern trade agreements” and “Asking what our trade policy is now—narrowly framed as plans to reduce tariffs further—is simply the wrong question. The right question is: how does trade fit into our international economic policy...?” That's what he asked.
For those who say that international economic partnerships are not free trade agreements, he said, “For the problems we are trying to solve today, the traditional model doesn't cut it. ... We need a new approach. Simply put: In today's world, trade policy needs to be about more than tariff reduction, and trade policy needs to be fully integrated into our economic strategy, at home and abroad.”
We know that every country practises its own non-tariff barriers, including Canada. Developing countries are now looking at where their strategic advantages are and are bringing new rules. They're basically bringing in new NTBs. For example, Indonesia has an import-export ban on raw nickel ore. The Democratic Republic of Congo has put in domestic processing requirements for cobalt mining that takes place there. Tanzania has done it for the gold and copper concentrates. It's the same with Zambia. Developing countries are bringing those in.
Developed countries like the United States are pursuing international economic partnerships, separately with Canada on one hand and Japan and South Korea on the other. It has its own with India and countries like Angola, etc.
Is what we are discussing today relevant for the future trade agreements or the economic partnerships that we are foreseeing? What are your comments on this?