Harper to announce free-trade talks with Japan
Postmedia News | February 23, 2012
Harper to announce free-trade talks with Japan
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce free-trade negotiations with Japan when he heads to Asia for a summit in March — talks that could be the ticket into a more important economic club.
Harper is expected to make a stop in Tokyo to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda while in Asia for the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea.
Both Canada and Japan are trying to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership - a trade group of nine Asia-Pacific countries, and this bilateral deal could put the countries into a position to support the other’s entry into the TPP with neither having to compromise on supply management or rice.
The free-trade deal could mean more cars being imported into Canada from Asia by re-moving the current 6.1-per-cent duty on vehicles imported from outside North America.
A move such as this, however, is likely to face resistance from auto unions, which say increased trade could cost jobs.
Harper and Noda are also expected to announce easing the ban on Canadian beef to allow cattle up to the age of 30 months into Japan. This would change Japan’s ban on Canadian beef older than 21 months imposed due to fears of mad cow disease.
