Global Affairs Canada provided Farms.com a general overview of the trade negotiation process
It’s difficult to go a day without hearing something about a trade deal.
The Canadian government, for example, is involved in trade talks with at least four partners.
Until Jan. 26, Canadians can weigh in on potential partnerships with India, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, and Mercosur (a trade bloc of six South American countries).
But how does a trade deal go from an idea to a reality? How do negotiators decide which industries or products to target?
For answers to some of these questions, Farms.com contacted Global Affairs Canada (GAC) to provide a general overview of the multilateral trade negotiation process.
The first part of a trade deal is the pre-negotiation stage.
This is when “exploratory discussions with the negotiating partner occur and public consultations are launched,” GAC said.
During this stage, the two partners clarify key priorities and outline their preferred model and approach, allowing the nations to have a baseline point for negotiations.
Canada, for example, has an inclusive approach to trade.
This approach “seeks to ensure that the benefits of trade are more widely shared with businesses that have traditionally been underrepresented in this sphere,” GAC’s website says.
GAC publishes notices in the Canada Gazette and on the Consulting with Canadians webpage.
Following the consultation period, a What We Heard report is published to summarize the consultation results.
Feedback from industry stakeholders help negotiators decide where to focus their energy.
In terms of agriculture, AAFC and the CFIA are the government’s lead on industry related issues.
Priorities from those bodies come in part from consultations with the Agricultural Trade Negotiations Consultations Group (ATNCG)
This group is made up of reps from AAFC, CFIA, and industry stakeholders from multiple sectors like grain, dairy, hemp, and livestock. The ATNCG helps ensure Canada’s ag sector is represented in trade deals.
The Federal Provincial Trade Policy Committee (FPATPC), which includes the federal trade minister and multiple provincial ministers, is also involved.
Any trade deal must also respect the Policy on Tabling of Treaties in Parliament.
This includes Cabinet seeking a mandate to pursue a free trade agreement.
Once the pre-negotiation stage requirements are fulfilled, the process moves into the negotiation stage.
This is “a series of negotiating rounds, which are usually scheduled every two to three months, in order to permit analysis, consultations, and intersessional work in the intervening period,” GAC told Farms.com.
Before and after each round of talks, GAC updates industry and government stakeholders, and performs additional consultations as needed.
Additionally, AAFC and CFIA provide updates through the ATNCG and the FPATPC.
This negotiation stage repeats until the parties involved agree on the terms of a trade deal.
Once this occurs, the countries sign the trade agreement.
But this doesn’t make it law.
Each individual country must ratify the deal through legislative approval processes.
From the time negotiations begin to the deal is ratified by all parties involved, years can pass.
Canada, Mexico and the U.S., for example, started negotiations on CUSMA in August 2017. The three countries signed the deal in November 2018.
Mexico ratified the deal in June 2019. The U.S. followed suit in early 2020, and Canada ratified the deal in March 2020.
The deal went into effect on Canada Day 2020.