Canada Is Seeking To Boost Asia Ties At APEC Meeting

Mr. McCallum said Canada has long been a proponent of global free trade and that APEC provides an "excellent forum" to press its international trade and investment agenda. "And especially now, with these problems with the U.S., it's even more important that we diversify, that we push for broader and deeper relations with Asia," Mr. McCallum said in an interview. He is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with the finance ministers of China and South Korea, among others, at Jeju Island. Last month, a key North American Free Trade Agreement panel dismissed U.S. claims that an earlier ruling in favor of Canada in a long-running dispute over softwood lumber exports violated trade rules. But Canada's hopes that the U.S. would immediately return about C$5 billion, or US$4.2 billion, in duties collected from Canadian lumber companies since 2002 were dashed when the U.S. refused to abide by the ruling. Canada responded by calling off a meeting that had been scheduled to start the next round of talks in the dispute. Some Canadian ministers have raised the prospect of retaliating by imposing duties on some U.S. exports. Prime Minister Paul Martin has described the U.S. position as "untenable." He is expected to soon telephone U.S. President George W. Bush on the issue. Mr. McCallum will raise the matter with U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt, who will represent Treasury Secretary John Snow in South Korea. "I will certainly indicate clearly to him our position that we are not at all satisfied at this breaking of the rules by the U.S.," Mr. McCallum said. Canada and the U.S. have the world's largest trading relationship, with the U.S. absorbing more than 85% of Canadian exports. Trade accounts for roughly one-third of Canada's gross domestic product. Mr. McCallum said his talks with the Chinese finance minister will focus on continuing negotiations on a foreign-investment protection and encouragement agreement. He will also be pushing for better access to China's financial-services sector. "China is crucial for Canada," Mr. McCallum said. He said the two countries have a longstanding positive relationship, and that Canada is home to more than one million people of Chinese origin. "I'll be making a strong case that we definitely want to deepen and broaden our relations with China, notably in financial services, but also more generally in trade and investment relations," he said. Mr. McCallum will tell the Chinese finance minister that Canada is pleased with China's move last month to abandon its currency peg to the U.S. dollar. He wants to gauge China's future plans for the yuan, which now trades against a basket of foreign currencies, including the Canadian dollar. His talks with the South Korean finance minister will touch on continuing free-trade negotiations between the two countries. He said there are a number of issues to resolve. "But I think both parties are very positive in terms of going forward," he said. http://www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=4359

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