Resolute ambivalence: Canada's strategy toward China and the Asia-Pacific
Abstract Successive Canadian governments have pointed to economic opportunities in China and the Asia-Pacific. Yet Canada's market share of imports in the region has continued to slide. The Harper government formulated the Global Markets Action Plan (GMAP) with a view toward improving Canada's trading position in emerging markets by closer integration of our trade officials with business groups, and focussing on encouraging small- and medium-sized firms to engage in export trade and integrating them into global value chains. Negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) is another key component of this strategy. These laudable efforts that focus on economic factors lack a well-thought-out political strategy that would engage China and the Asia-Pacific and support our economic efforts. Separation of economics from politics will not work. Far from an integrated strategy, our political approach has been ambivalent and contradictory. Canada is late and hesitant to adjust to a global order that is no longer centered on the North Atlantic. Without commensurate policies to anchor efforts to increase our market share by negotiating an FTA with China, joining the East Asian Summit and the Asian Infrastructure bank, an economic strategy to engage the emerging markets will not bear fruit.