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Canada’s progressive trade agenda: engaging with Africa to support inclusive gains under the African continental free trade area

Lily Sommer & David Luke

To cite this article: Lily Sommer & David Luke (2019): Canada’s progressive trade agenda: engaging with Africa to support inclusive gains under the African continental free trade area, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, DOI: 10.1080/11926422.2018.1542603

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Canada’s progressive trade agenda: engaging with Africa to support inclusive gains under the African continental free trade area Lily Sommer and David Luke

African Trade Policy Centre, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Scepticism towards trade liberalisation, and regional and global trade integration has been observed in recent years, driven by concerns that the benefits of globalisation have not been fairly distributed. In this context, Canada has introduced it’s “Progressive Trade Agenda” (PTA) to enhance Canadians’ understanding of the benefits that trade can bring, and to ensure that these benefits accrue to all Canadians. Although there exist challenges with the way Canada’s PTA is currently understood, particularly beyond Canadian borders, the central argument of this article is that the concept can provide important insights from an African perspective. The article provides insights on how Canada can engage with Africa to support monitoring the implementation of the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, with a view to ensuring inclusive gains, in addition to highlighting opportunities for Canada in a rapidly expanding and integrated African market.

KEYWORDS Africa; Canada; African continental free trade area; globalization; inclusive; investment; monitoring and evaluation; progressive trade agenda; trade; women

Introduction

Scepticism towards trade liberalisation, and regional and global trade integration has been observed in recent years – as evidenced by the Brexit vote in the UK and populist and iso- lationist anti-trade attitudes in Europe, the US and elsewhere. Behind this are concerns that the benefits of globalisation have not been fairly distributed, with many worried about job loss and insecurity as a result of increased competition.

The United States’ shifting stance on trade and decision to amend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico has caused particular concern for Canada.1 Canada’s “Progressive Trade Agenda” (PTA) provides a response and aims to build and sustain support for an open trade and rules based system. The leading objective of the agenda is to enhance Canadians’ understanding of the benefits that trade can bring, and to ensure that these benefits accrue to all Canadians.

Although Canada’s PTA has a domestic focus, the principles underpinning the agenda are gaining traction elsewhere, and the PTA concept has become synonymous more gen- erally with a trade strategy that is both inclusive and sustainable. The former International

© 2019 NPSIA

CONTACT Lily Sommer [email protected]

CANADIAN FOREIGN POLICY JOURNAL https://doi.org/10.1080/11926422.2018.1542603

Trade Minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, put much effort into promoting Canada’s progressive approach to trade in various international fora.2

“I’m proud of the workaccomplished at the WTO. Now is the timefor Canada to play a leadingrole bytakingitsprogressivetradeagendatotheworld.WewillcontinuetoworkwithallWTOmember states to ensure that the WTO addresses new economic realities and issues while producing posi- tive outcomes for middle-class Canadians and citizens of other countries around the world.”

∼ Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade (Global Affairs Canada 2017b)

As Canada’s PTA has gained traction, both within and outside its borders, the question now being raised is “What exactly does a progressive trade agenda mean in practice?”.3

The inclusive goals of a progressive trade agenda are ideals for most nations, both in the developed and the developing world. Canada’s PTA is however still work in progress, and there exist challenges in the way that it is understood in its current form, which pre- sents difficulties for implementation. This article argues that despite the PTA’s under- developed and ambiguous definition, the concept can still provide interesting insights from an African perspective, particularly in supporting inclusive implementation and monitoring of the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The remainder of the article is organised into four parts. Part I lays out the authors’ interpretation of the main elements of Canada’s Progressive Trade Agenda and highlights the challenges in the way it is understood in its current form. Part II presents an innovative approach to monitoring implementation of the AfCFTA, with a view to ensuring inclusive gains, and highlights possible entry points for Canadian collaboration in this regard. Part III identifies opportunities for Canada in diversifying its trade and investment towards Africa’s rapidly expanding and integrated market, that are consistent with the principles. The final part of the article concludes.

Part I: Canada’s progressive trade agenda

Canada’s Progressive Trade Agenda was first announced as a government priority in 2016 by the then International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, but is still yet to be explicitly defined in policy documents and strategies (Global Affairs Canada 2016). According to a collection of various ministerial and government statements, we characterise the main elements of Canada’s PTA as targeting (1) substantive issues resulting from putting people at the center of Canada’s trade policy and (2) process outcomes for building con- sensus on the importance of trade.

Substantive issues4

The PTA aims to use trade more effectively as a tool for inclusive and prosperous growth that benefits everyone, in particular through improving incomes and welfare, and creating productive, fair and secure jobs for the following groups5:

. Women

. Indigenous populations

. Youth

. Middle class

2 L. SOMMER AND D. LUKE

One of the ways Canada’s PTA aims to achieve this is through targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from trade. SMEs are key to channeling trade and growth into jobs for these groups. In addition, Canada’s Minister for International Devel- opment, on 9 June 2017, announced a Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP). This is expected to refocus Canada’s entire Official Development Assistance (ODA) pro- grames towards empowering women, including Aid for Trade (AfT) (Global Affairs Canada 2017d).

An alternative way Canada is addressing substantive issues under its PTA is through negotiating trade agreements that contain provisions reflecting progressive elements, such as provisions that explicitly aim to enhance the prospects of:

. Gender equality

. Environmental sustainability

. Labor standards

. Health and safety

. Governance and human rights

For example, the recently negotiated Canada-Europe Trade Agreement (CETA) includes provisions concerning the environment, labor standards and the right of states to legislate in the interest of health and safety. The amended Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) contains a chapter on gender. The Trans-Pacific (TPP) Partnership Agreement, now the “Comprehensive and Progressive TPP”,; included progressive provisions in areas such as labor, environment, SMEs, and transparency and anti-corruption. Canada ensured that the CPTPP upholds progressive values, and is also making efforts to include progressive provisions in its potential new trade agreement with China. More recently, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has incorporated key out- comes for Canadian businesses, workers and communities in areas such as labor, environ- ment, automotive trade, dispute resolution, culture, energy, and agriculture and agri-food. The USMCA recognizes the importance of progressive trade, and includes language on gender and indigenous peoples’ rights, and robust chapters on labor and the environ- ment, which will be subject to dispute settlement.

Process outcomes

To build and sustain support for trade in the context of rising scepticism, and to ensure policy outcomes that reflect the needs of all Canadians, the agenda advocates for a trade policy making process that is:

. Consultative

. Inclusive

. Participatory

. Transparent

Such an approach would facilitate interaction and ongoing dialogue with stakeholders alongside formal negotiating and policy decision-making structures so that trade agree- ments and policy can reflect the needs of a broad range of stakeholders such as civil

CANADIAN FOREIGN POLICY JOURNAL 3

society organisations (CSOs), indigenous populations, women enterprise associations, youth groups, labor unions, chambers of commerce and the business community more broadly. At this point in time, a formal framework and mechanism to support the achieve- ment of the process outcomes targeted, has however, not been put in place. Wide consul- tations and policy dialogues can be used as important tools, but a formal wide- represented advisory group on negotiations, as is being established in the European Union, would also add value, along with an inclusive review mechanism.6

The implementation of Canada’s PTA has faced two major challenges: (1) the lack of an explicit definition of what the PTA means in practice and (2) resistance from Canada’s pro- spective trading partners.

Although we identify elements that Canada’s PTA appears to aim to achieve, it is still not clear what a comprehensive progressive trade agenda should look like in practice. As argued in Nathoo’s commentary piece,

in the weeds of the Government’s key messages about Canada’s “progressive” trade approach, there is currently very little information of substance to guide government officials, research- ers, Canadian business, and Canada’s trade and investment partners, on what this means in practice.

Without a precise definition of the PTA, it is difficult to understand how the Canadian gov- ernment intends to execute the values it embodies, particularly in an increasingly challen- ging global trade environment. Concerns also exist regarding a gap between the rhetoric and reality of Canada’s PTA. In fact, vague and dispersed language on Canada’s PTA may actually risk diverting attention away from the need to ensure real and inclusive gains from trade; particularly if rhetoric is misinterpreted as concrete action without a real framework for implementation in place.

Implementation of the substantive issues and process outcomes elements of Canada’s PTA will be difficult without further clarity in terms of definition and a guiding framework for application. Implementing progressive provisions has faced particular challenges, due to definitional issues, but also a resistance from some of Canada’s prospective trading part- ners on including progressive provisions in trade negotiations. For example, an expected agreement on the launch of free trade talks between Canada and China did not materialize due to China’s objection to include progressive elements such as environmental sustain- ability, labor standards and gender (Stephens 2018).7 This highlights that Canada should exercise caution in attempting to apply its normative principles and values to external entities. Moreover, enforceability is likely to prove a challenge for Canada’s FTAs that contain best-endeavour progressive clauses, such as the gender chapter in the revised Canada-Chile agreement. The more recent CPTTP and USMCA, contain progressive pro- visions subject to dispute settlement. However, it is too early to assess the real impact and effectiveness of such provisions.

Despite the challenges associated with applying the PTA concept as it is currently understood, this article argues that Canada’s PTA can still provide useful insights on how to achieve inclusive and sustainable trade, in a context of increased protectionist and anti-trade attitudes globally. To provide real direction and impact, Canada must however rework and elaborate its PTA. Most importantly, this will require a clear definition of what the Canadian government means by a Progressive Trade Agenda, both domesti- cally and in its engagements with the rest of the world. It is important that Canada reflects

4 L. SOMMER AND D. LUKE

on differences in the levels of development, and economic and political structures between itself and its trading partners. This will require Canada to assess what can be reasonably achieved in a trade agreement, what should be left to domestic policy, and what elements of the PTA can provide insights for its external trade partnerships. There are many ways to pursue a Progressive Trade Agenda with trading partners without binding the elements into a formal trade agreement that is subject to dispute settlement; these need to be explored further.

Part II: Engaging with Africa to support monitoring the inclusive implementation of the AFCFTA

Background to the AfCFTA

On 21 March 2018, at the 10th Extraordinary African Union Summit, 44 African govern- ments signed the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.8 The AfCFTA is the most significant and ambitious trade reform on Africa’s trade agenda. It aims to create a liberalized market for goods and services to promote sustainable and inclusive socio-econ- omic development and the structural transformation of African countries.9 The first phase of the AfCFTA, which focused on the liberalization of goods and services, commits members to cut tariffs to zero on imports covering 90 percent of tariff lines, as well as address a range of non-tariff barriers (NTBs). The second phase is to cover competition policy, investment, intellectual property rights and potentially e-commerce, in order to further consolidate the African market.

The AfCFTA negotiating principles that guided the design of the agreement are broadly in line with the substantive issues and process outcomes elements of Canada’s PTA outlined in Part I. They required AU member states to engage in infor- mation exchange, and recognise that ambitious liberalisation commitments must be balanced against flexibility, special and differential treatment and variable geometry. They also emphasised the importance of ensuring that the AfCFTA process was inclus- ive, consultative and participatory. Civil society have played an important role in advo- cacy and building awareness on the AfCFTA, particularly on the expected distributional implications.10

The agreement, as expected, is within the tradition of trade agreements, and does not include explicit progressive provisions such as those related to gender and human rights. The expectation is that these progressive issues will form part of monitoring the implementation of the AfCFTA (see section below). The agreement does however encom- pass provisions of importance to ensuring an inclusive AfCFTA, such as exclusion lists, trade remedy provisions, infant industry provisions, and a commitment to address NTBs and to harmonize technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.

The AUC has acknowledged that lessons can be learned from the first phase of the negotiations, which started well, but were weighed down by delays in the recruitment of the AfCFTA unit and urgency of meeting the December 2017 deadline. To this end, the Commission has signaled a commitment to better support wide consultation with sta- keholders in the second phase of the negotiations at all levels – technical, policy oversight and political approval. The African Trade Policy Centre at the ECA is also earmarking

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resources for policy advocacy with the private sector and CSOs for the second phase of the negotiations and implementation. In fact, the AUC and ECA, in the first three-months of 2018, organised two high-level private sector dialogues on the AfCFTA in order to under- stand the constraints faced by African businesses, and discuss options for engaging the private sector in the remaining AfCFTA process through consultative and transparent platforms.

Monitoring implementation of the AfCFTA to support inclusive gains

Economic modeling indicates substantial trade gains from the AfCFTA. ECA Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modeling exercises estimate that the AfCFTA can boost intra- African trade by US$ 34.6 billion (52.3 percent) between 2010 and 2022, translating into real income gains of 0.2 percent (US$ 296.7 billion). Complementary trade facilitation measures substantially increase these gains (ECA 2012). Economic modeling also indicates positive welfare gains from the AfCFTA. Mureverwi (2016) estimates that the AfCFTA can improve economic welfare in Africa by $10.8 billion. Chauvin et al. (2016) model the cumu- lative impact of the elimination of tariffs, a 50 percent reduction in non-tariff measures (NTMs), and a 30 percent reduction in transaction costs. Although they find small short- run impacts, by 2027 the AfCFTA is estimated to increase Africa’s welfare by 2.64 percent. These results are linked to household survey data for a selection of African countries to assess the effect of the AfCFTA on sub-national economic groups including female or male-headed households, urban or rural groupings, and different income groups. The AfCFTA is found to have an asymmetric, but positive effect on all sub-national groupings.

It is essential that negotiated AfCFTA provisions are quickly implemented for these benefits to materialize. Within Africa’s regional economic communities (RECs), negotiated agreements have, and continue to be, implemented at very uneven paces. In ECOWAS, for instance, businesses frequently complain about the lack of implementation of existing commitments as well as cumbersome processes to utilize already established commit- ments, such as the burdensome registration of products to benefit from the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (Hoppe and Aidoo 2012). The slow and uncoordinated implementation of REC agreements partly reflects the lack of overarching monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks.

It is in this context that the ECA has been requested by African Ministers to “monitor progress and report regularly on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and measure its impact on structural transformation through industrialization, econ- omic diversification and value addition.”11 To this end, the African Trade Policy Centre of ECA, is developing the “AfCFTA Country Business Index”, as an innovative M&E mechanism for the AfCFTA, that puts at its center the challenges the private sector faces when trading in Africa. It is expected that through this project, the opinions of businesses in Africa will be aggregated and articulated into an index to ensure that the AfCFTA responds to the inter- ests and concerns of those who will actually trade under and utilize the AfCFTA. In this regard, the index offers an M&E framework that captures the substantive issues and inclus- ive and consultative process outcomes elements of Canada’s PTA. Through actively enga- ging the private sector, including SMEs, and women and youth owned businesses and groups, the index will provide a consultative and participatory platform for feedback on

6 L. SOMMER AND D. LUKE

AfCFTA implementation, which will help to facilitate adaptation in a manner that supports inclusive gains.

In contrast to the WTO Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM), which was designed foremost for the purpose of monitoring each country’s compliance with WTO obligations, the envisaged AFCFTA Country Business Index places development at its heart. Through contributing to the effective implementation and monitoring of the AFCFTA, the index can support the realization of the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, inclusive implementation of the AfCFTA can support targets for women’s empowerment (SDG 5); SMEs harnessing trade opportunities for inclusive growth and employment (SDG 8); the promotion of industry (SDG 9); food security (SDG 2); and affordable access to health services (SDG 3). By supporting African industrialization and economic development, the AfCFTA can also help to reduce the continent’s reliance on external resources. This would allow Africa to better finance its own development, which is recognized under SDG 17.

The development focus of the envisaged AfCFTA Country Business Index is particularly important for Africa, which is home to the world’s highest concentration of poverty (Sommer and Luke 2016). In fact, the index and its interaction with the SDGs also offers an attractive platform for Canada to engage with the continent in support of inclusive trade. Both Canada and Africa are equally committed to achieving the Global Agenda 2030, and Africa is the region where the most significant gains can be made in this regard. The Canadian government already acknowledges the importance of building a supportive environment for trade in Africa, as highlighted by Global Affairs Canada’s support to the African Union’s initiative on boosting intra-African trade through the African Trade Policy Centre at the ECA. The ATPC is providing research, policy advocacy, capacity development and training to support implementation and monitoring of the AfCFTA and its complementary initiative the Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) Action Plan. These existing partnerships offer a good foundation for expanding Canada’s assist- ance to extend support to these critical trade reforms.

M&E under the AfCFTA Country Business Index will require: (1) collection of primary data on the challenges faced by businesses in trading through the AfCFTA; (2) analysis of secondary data on intra-African trade; and (3) the aggregation of these data inputs into an index that scores and ranks the performance of countries by a series of indicators. To support inclusive implementation, these indicators will capture whether or not the AfCFTA agreement is contributing to substantive gains for vulnerable groups such as women, informal cross border traders and smallholder farmers. This is particularly impor- tant since the AfCFTA agreement does not contain specific articles concerning these groups; although it does contain flexibilities such as protection of infant industries and exclusion lists. When the second phase of the AfCFTA negotiations is completed, the same Country Business Index lens could be applied to monitoring the entire agreement’s elements.

Many important actors in Africa’s economy and economic integration, such as women and informal cross-border traders, are however often insufficiently acknowledged in avail- able data. Data collection will include the collection of data disaggregated by sex, age, location, ethnicity and participation in the informal economy. Having access to this data will be essential for defining the types of actions necessary to address any adverse out- comes of the AfCFTA on poor and vulnerable populations. Gathering high quality

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disaggregated data can be time-consuming and costly (ECA, OHCHR and FES 2017). Capacity constrained member states can be supported in this area through donor techni- cal assistance and the sharing of best practices, and this could be an area Canada may wish to explore through its support to the ATPC.12

Canada has also been successful in monitoring its own FTAs. The Standing Senate Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade has a mandate to examine legislation and issues relating to foreign and commonwealth relations including treaties and inter- national agreements, external trade, foreign aid and territorial and offshore matters.13

As Canada’s PTA evolves, it would make sense that the committee will attach greater attention to monitoring the progressiveness of Canada’s trade agreements.

Part III: Opportunities for Canada

The AfCFTA will create an integrated African market of 1.2 billion people with a Gross Dom- estic Product (GDP) of US$ 2.5 trillion, across all 55 member states of the AU. In terms of numbers of participating countries, AfCFTA will be the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization. It is also a highly dynamic market. The population of Africa is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, at which point it will comprise 26 percent of what is projected to be the world’s working age population, with an economy that is estimated to grow twice as rapidly as that of the developed world (ECA and AUC 2018). This will enable significant economies of scale and create new rewarding trade and investment opportunities. Attracting investments linked to the pro- duction of high value added goods including for example in agro-processing and natural resource beneficiation will help the AfCFTA to create substantive gains for vulnerable groups in terms of production, employment, trade and poverty reduction.

This offers an opportunity for Canada to diversify its trade and investment, since it will make it easier for Canada to engage with African countries on designing trans-boundary investment projects. In fact, the Canadian government has prioritised the promotion of trade and investment with emerging markets, including China and India, which indicates a willingness to seek out new potential (Office of the Prime Minister 2017). The AfCFTA offers many diverse trade and investment opportunities for Canada. Currently, apart from mining interests, Africa is a nascent trade and investment partner for Canada. As Canada develops a progressive trade policy at home, this provides an opportunity for adapting and diversifying its trade and investment strategy in Africa to more effectively target substantive gains for vulnerable groups.

The AfCFTA’s common rules on services will create additional opportunity for Canadian investments. Service sectors of particular interest to Canada and consistent with Africa’s inclusive structural transformation agenda and a PTA include clean energy; water (includ- ing irrigation for an agricultural revolution); innovation in green growth solutions and related climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives to support technological leap- frogging; and human capital development (including the rehabilitation and expansion of African universities to meet training needs required by population growth and the AfCFTA (Luke and Rourke 2017). Agricultural-related investments, which are of particular interest to women, could also be prioritised. For example, targeted investments to support female smallholders would help to connect women to regional value chains (RVCs) and adopt technologies to improve productivity and benefit from the AfCFTA. Export Development

8 L. SOMMER AND D. LUKE

Canada (EDC) offers a platform for channeling increased pro-development investments into Africa.

Further opportunities for Canadian investment exist in supporting implementation of the AfCFTA in a manner that brings about inclusive gains. Although theory and modeling point to positive trade and welfare gains from the AfCFTA (see Part II), the potential benefits will not be realised without complementary interventions and investments at the national, regional and continental levels. Investments to address the binding supply side constraints to intra-African trade such as cumbersome customs requirements and inadequate internal and cross-border infrastructure will be particularly important. Trade facilitation measures are key to ensuring substantive gains from trade since landlocked countries and small, informal and female traders are usually more burdened by inadequate trade facilitation institutional frameworks and processes. Modeling exercises indicate that gains in intra-African trade from the AfCFTA are substantially higher with supportive trade facilitation measures (ECA 2012).14

Although such investments will be important for Africa’s transformation, efforts must be made to ensure that foreign companies respond to human rights standards, including those contained in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. As part of its PTA, Canada can play a key role in promoting human rights accountability for Canadian multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Africa, through delivering best practice and building advocacy around corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of the AfCFTA. Canada’s cooperation model with mining companies for improved CSR could also provide lessons for deeper engagement in Africa.

In the future, once the AfCFTA is fully operational, Canada may also want to consider negotiating a free trade agreement with Africa to benefit from the economies of scale and new production and trade opportunities made possible within the integrated continent.

Part V: Conclusion

Canada’s Progressive Trade Agenda has caught the attention of the rest of the world, as both developed and developing nations look for solutions to make trade both inclusive and sustainable. Yet, in its current form Canada’s PTA has faced challenges due to the lack of an explicit definition of what the PTA means in practice, and resistance from some of Canada’s prospective trading partners. To provide real direction and impact, Canada must rework and elaborate its PTA. Most importantly, this will require a clear definition of what the Canadian government means by a Progressive Trade Agenda, both domestically and in its engagements with the rest of the world. Canada must be careful not to impose the PTA’s normative and domestic-driven principles in their nego- tiations with external entities. There are many ways to pursue a progressive agenda that do not require incorporation of binding progressive elements into a formal trade agreement. Best-endeavour clauses including references to existing commitments, trea- ties and charters can however help to encourage progress and build momentum on pro- gressive issues.

Despite these challenges, Canada’s PTA can offer important insights from an African perspective, particularly in monitoring the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, with a view to ensuring inclusive gains. Specifically, Canada could play an important role in supporting the design and application of the “AfCFTA Country

CANADIAN FOREIGN POLICY JOURNAL 9

Business Index”, an innovative M&E tool the ECA is developing. The proposed tool is inclus- ive and places the needs of the private sector at its center. It is also aligned to tracking progress on SDG outcomes impacted by trade, which is a crucial component of Canada’s strategy to yield PTA results globally. As implementation gets underway the rapidly expanding, dynamic and integrated African market under the AfCFTA is expected to offer significant trade and investment opportunity for international partners such as Canada. Once the AfCFTA is fully operational, Canada may also want to consider negotiat- ing a free trade agreement with Africa to tap into the economies of scale and new pro- duction and trade opportunities made possible within the integrated continent.

If Canada were to successfully apply insights from its PTA to its engagement with Africa under the framework proposed in this article, this could offer direction for Canadian foreign policy on how to engage other trading partners under its PTA. With growing apprehension regarding Canada’s PTA, a demonstrated success story will be crucial to highlight the benefits of understanding and learning from the PTA concept.

Notes

1. The US accounted for $307.9 billion of Canada’s merchandise exports in 2016, which is equiv- alent to 79.1 percent of Canada’s total merchandise exports (calculations using UNCTAD Stat. Accessed 7 June 2018).

2. For example, in June 2017 Francois-Philippe Champagne attended the 2017 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris to advance a PTA and reinforce Canada’s leadership in inclusive and sustainable trade and invest- ment. In addition, the inclusion of provisions on gender in Canada’s recent trade agreement with Chile is being carefully studied around the world for possible broader application.

3. The theme of the 2017 WTO Public Forum asked how we can we look beyond aggregate growth and income gains to ensure that trade is more inclusive and works for all.

4. See Global Affairs Canada (2017b). 5. In the 2017 Canada’s State of Trade: Trade and Investment Update, progressive trade was

defined as “doing everything possible to ensure that all segments of society … can take advan- tage of the economic opportunities owing from trade and investment” (Global Affairs Canada 2017c).

6. In September 2017, the European Commission (EC) issued a new trade package including a Communication on "A Progressive Trade Policy to Harness Globalisation". This policy paper outlines the EU trade priorities for the next couple of years and calls for the EU to deliver effective arrangements through a negotiating process that is accountable, transparent and inclusive. In order to achieve this, the Commission has decided to create an advisory group on EU trade negotiations consisting of representatives of a wide and balanced group of sta- keholders, ranging from trade unions, employers’ organisations, consumer groups and other non-governmental organisations (European Commission 2017).

7. The unwillingness of some countries to go too deeply with a PTA agenda was one of the reasons for the sudden postponement of an announcement on the TPP in November 2017. The new version of the TPP (excluding the United States) is now the “Comprehensive and Pro- gressive TPP”.

8. The agreement will enter into force once 22 African countries have ratified the deal, and given the current momentum behind the project, this process is expected to be swift and smooth.

9. See Article 3. General Objectives, Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area.

10. In February 2016 the Third World Network (TWN) co-hosted with ECA a Colloquium on “AfCFTA: Internal Challenges and Threats and a Civil Society Strategy Meeting on Advocacy Around Africa’s Trade and Development”. The meetings brought together CSOs from across

10 L. SOMMER AND D. LUKE

the continent, the AU and academia, to discuss the role of civil society in the AfCFTA nego- tiation process with the aim of creating an Action Plan for CSO engagement. The 2016 Africa Trade Week organized by the AU, ECA, African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK) also provided a pan-African platform for promot- ing and enhancing multi-stakeholder trade policy advocacy and dialogue consistent with the goals of the AfCFTA, and included a number of events related to the gender and human rights impacts of the AfCFTA.

11. African Conference of Ministers Resolution 960(LI) on “Harnessing the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area and creating fiscal space for jobs and economic diversification”.

12. The African Trade Observatory envisaged under the AfCFTA is also expected to provide useful data for monitoring AfCFTA impacts, including gender disaggregated data.

13. Between 1988 and 1999 the committee studied and monitored the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It recommended that the government pay special attention to adjustment assistance, control of energy exports, trade in agricultural products, application of the provisions allowing temporary entry for business people, and negotiations on the adop- tion of a countervailing duties and anti-dumping code. In recent years the committee has con- sidered legislation implementing trade agreements with a number of countries such as South Korea, Honduras, Panama and Peru.

14. In fact, GAC already provides financial support to Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada, a non- profit organisation that aims to support trade development in low income countries as part of the effort to reduce global poverty. The emphasis is on promoting sustainable development through market access and export information services, trade capacity building, advice and contact. TFO Canada has helped to facilitate trade for over 900 exporters from developing countries, many of which are in Africa.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Lily Sommer is a Trade Policy Expert at the African Trade Policy Centre of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Her research is on African trade policy with a focus on the linkages between trade and industrialization, poverty and gender. She has published widely in the fields of development and trade economics, in particular on issues related to the continental free trade area, smart trade and industrial policy and the sustainable development goals. Ms. Sommer holds a MSc in Economics from the London School of Econ- omics and Political Sciences and a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

David Luke is Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at the UN Econ- omic Commission for Africa with the rank of a director at the Commission. He is responsible for leading ECA's research, policy advisory services, training and capacity development on inclusive trade policies and in particular the boosting intra-African trade and the continental free trade area initiatives. His portfolio also includes WTO, EPAs, Brexit, AGOA, Africa's trade with emerging economies, and trade and cross-cutting policy areas such as trade, industrializ- ation and structural transformation, trade and gender, trade and public health and trade and climate change.

Prior to joining ECA in 2014, he served as UNDP trade policy adviser in Southern Africa and Geneva and also as Senior Economist and Chief of Trade at the Organization for African Unity/African Union Commission, and as an Associate Professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.

CANADIAN FOREIGN POLICY JOURNAL 11

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