International Trade committee  Chair, again, because this question is outside of the WTO, I'll ask whether you'd like me to answer that. I can answer it in the role that I have.

International Trade committee  Sure. As director for trade negotiations, I'm responsible not only for our engagement at the WTO but also our bilateral and regional free trade negotiations, so I'm happy to take the question. We are in the process of negotiating several free trade agreements, including with th

International Trade committee  Madam Chair, maybe I could start with the second question. It's quite true that under our bilateral and regional FTAs we have, essentially, a one-stage dispute settlement process. There's no appeal mechanism. In the case of the WTO, there was a decision taken during the Uruguay

International Trade committee  It's a good question. Every case is different. The way we ultimately resolve these disputes can also vary. Sometimes a country may be motivated to resolve an issue because of a change in its domestic situation. It may be in response to pressure from their own domestic stakeholder

International Trade committee  Decisions to launch a dispute are complicated and take into account a lot of different considerations. Oftentimes, they also require considerable consultations with Canadian industry. In some cases, Canadian industry is not necessarily unified in their view as to whether or not C

International Trade committee  One of the things we have tried to talk about with the WTO membership is whether there are ways in which we can try to ensure that decisions are rendered by the appellate body within a 90-day period. We have found that, over the years, the types of discussions and analysis the ap

International Trade committee  Yes. When the appellate body was created, it was never intended to be automatic. There's no requirement that every dispute actually go to an appeal. The reason it was created is that sometimes panels don't necessarily get it right. The appellate body was created to provide an o

International Trade committee  This question is outside the topic of the WTO, but I can answer it if that is acceptable to the committee.

International Trade committee  At this point, following the U.K.'s exit from the European Union, we have agreed to continue to apply CETA, which is the agreement we have with the European Union, until the end of the transition period. Right now that transition period is set to expire on December 31. Of course

International Trade committee  At this point—

International Trade committee  I can. CETA still applies, and I think Canada needs to determine, as is the case when we decide to launch FTA negotiations with any trading partner, whether it is in our interest to do a bilateral agreement, and that's dependent on a lot of factors.

International Trade committee  No, it has not had an impact on the specific pace of that case. If we have not found a solution to the appellate body impasse by the time that panel decision is issued, then we will be in a situation where it's possible that either Canada or the United States could choose to ap

International Trade committee  The multi-party interim arrangement we're negotiating right now is intended to, as closely as possible, replicate the current appellate body. Because we have been looking for a solution that we could put in place fairly quickly, it does not attempt to include improvements or devi

International Trade committee  For this question I have an expert here, whom I failed to mention in my introductory remarks. Marie-Noëlle is from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and I will let her talk about specifically what Canada has been doing in the agriculture discussions at the WTO.

International Trade committee  In an ideal world, we would be in a position to begin new appointments to the appellate body and would have a legitimate appeal mechanism by which WHO members could seek to appeal panel decisions. Because the United States has been blocking appointments since 2017, that appellat