Capacity and conditions for choice: managing Canada’s international economic policy relations in an unstable world

Abstract

This article analyzes the challenges facing Canada’s efforts to manage its economic relationships within and beyond North America while retaining some degree of discretion–the “capacity for choice.” It assesses the evolution of Canada’s international trade and investment policy relations since the 1980s, particularly in the context of major trade negotiations conducted since 2009 and ongoing economic relations with China. It suggests that while geography, economics, and culture will enforce the primacy of North American relationships, Canada’s capacity to take advantage of available opportunities will depend on domestic policy discipline, the deliberate expansion of policy capacity for managing key relationships outside North America without neglecting engagement with the United States, and incentive structures for internal and external cooperation in particular policy fields.