Business Leaders Call for new Worldwide Trade Talks to Head off Protectionism and Restore Global Growth

January 21, 1999

The Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) has advised Prime Minister Jean ChrǸtien that the best way to restore global growth and to head off a new round of barriers to trade in Canada’s key export markets is to press for ambitious multilateral negotiations on freer trade and investment.

Financial turmoil has fanned public anxiety about global economic integration, but promoting faster growth through still freer trade is the best response. “The global community must avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, when a wave of competitive devaluations and beggar-thy-neighbor policies simply added to the worldwide damage,” the BCNI says in a Memorandum to the Prime Minister entitled Confronting Global Economic Uncertainty: International Trade and Investment Priorities for Canada.

“Even the prospect of broadly-based negotiations could help Canada and its trading partners to cope with today’s financial and trade uncertainties and the resulting protectionist pressures,” the memorandum says. “There is both real urgency here and a real opportunity for Canada to show leadership on the world stage.”

The BCNI, which is composed of the chief executive officers of 150 leading Canadian enterprises, suggests that wide-ranging talks under the World Trade Organization could begin next year and conclude as early as 2003. Priority areas would include trade in services, investment and competition policy, intellectual property and agriculture, with a special focus on non-tariff barriers such as regulatory regimes, product standards, customs procedures and licencing requirements.

Just hours after the BCNI’s Board of Directors approved the memorandum on January 19, United States President Bill Clinton also called for wide-ranging global trade talks in his State of the Union Address. “At a time when protectionist forces in Canada’s most important trading partner are on the rise, such strongly-expressed support for open markets and expanded trade is doubly welcome,” said BCNI President and Chief Executive, Thomas d’Aquino.

The Council emphasizes that for Canada to achieve its objectives within such broad international negotiations, the federal government, the provinces, the private sector and interested groups and individuals from across the country must be involved at an early stage.

“As we define, clarify and pursue specific Canadian trade objectives, let us not forget that we are pursuing Canadian interests and values,” the memorandum says. “Restoring growth and contributing to economic development in Canada and throughout the world will strengthen democratic development, respect for human rights and protection of the environment worldwide.”

The Business Council on National Issues is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that is the vehicle for Canadian chief executive participation in national and global issues. The member companies of the BCNI administer close to $1.9 trillion in assets, have a yearly turnover of more than $500 billion, employ about one in ten working Canadians and are responsible for a majority of Canadian private sector investment, exports, research and development and training.

The Council has played the leading private-sector role in Canada in the promotion of global trade and investment liberalization. Next week, Mr. d’Aquino, together with some of his BCNI colleagues, will carry the plea of Canada’s chief executives for an early start to comprehensive global trade negotiations to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.