Department of Finance

90 Elgin Street, 14th Floor

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0G5

Email: tariff-tarif@fin.gc.ca

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Re: Critical Manufacturing Consultation

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The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is a coalition of national organizations advocating for a freer and fairer international trade environment for the agriculture and agri-food sector.

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CAFTA's members include farmers, ranchers, processors, producers, and exporters from major trade sectors such as beef, pork, grains, oilseeds, sugar, pulses, and soy.

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A fair and open international trade environment for agri-food is in Canada’s economic interest. Agri-food is responsible for 1 in 9 jobs in Canada, and the majority are in export-based agri-food. In 2022, Canada exported $92.8 billion in agriculture and food products, including raw agricultural materials, fish and seafood, and processed foods. More than half of our agricultural production is exported or processed to be exported.

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CAFTA has previously made a submission to Finance Canada’s Chinese Electric Vehicles Consultation, as well as to Global Affairs Canada’s Economic Security Consultation.

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In all these consultations, CAFTA has wished to underline largely the same point, which is that undermining the global rules-based trading system risks having a negative effect on Canada’s economic security. The prosperity of Canadians depends upon our ability to export, and we do so mainly under the WTO rules that are at the heart of the global trading system.

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When faced by the challenges presented by Chinese trading practices as described in your Consultation Paper, there is a serious danger of responding in a manner that undermines the very system that protects us. We urge the government to respond with measures that take WTO compliance seriously. We believe that doing so provides a surer path to resolution than ad hoc measures that do not do so.

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We also strongly encourage the government to work with other countries to face these problems together. Your News Release for this Consultation refers to the G7 Leaders Statement of June 2024. We would urge the government work with G7 partners to progress from such statements to collective action with partners at the G7, G20, OECD or other forums to meet international trade challenges collectively in a way that strengthens the international system, rather than weakening it.

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Michael Harvey

Executive Director