The transformative Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) represents 40 per cent of the global population and 50 per cent of world trade. Within the 21 member economies of the APEC region, micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the drivers of growth of innovation. They account for 98 per cent of all businesses. They also provide 54 per cent of regional employment and 70 per...

The memory of the Vietnam War is still vivid in the minds of many from my generation and it will soon be brought back to life with the upcoming Ken Burns documentary by the same name. Canada played a key role during the war as a member – along with India and Poland – of the International Control Commission. After the war, Canada accepted 60,000 refugees (1979-80), opened an embassy in Hanoi (1994...

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is home to 40 per cent of the world’s population, 50 per cent of global trade, and 60 per cent of global GDP. Over the last quarter century, APEC has shaped and transformed the global economy and supported half a billion people in their rise out of poverty. Few Canadians know much about APEC, even though Canada was one of its founding members in 1989. The...

It was not supposed to happen. Backed by a full phalanx of America's top generals and a powerful mandate to "make America great again," U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly pounded his fist on the podium, warning that letting North Korea have nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) was "not going to happen," and that North Korea would be stopped by a great "armada" and with "...

Few Canadians know much about APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and even fewer still know anything about ABAC, the APEC Business Advisory Council. This week, Toronto will be hosting the third of four annual meetings of ABAC, a council made up of three senior business leaders from each of the 21 APEC economies. The third meeting is always the most significant because council members...

This week's Conversation That Matters features Stewart Beck of the Asia Pacific Foundation on the opportunities that Donald Trump's isolationist and anti-trade rhetoric aimed at Asia present to Canada. Click here to watch the video. Did we squander the endowment that was created in 1970 by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau when Canada was the first western nation to recognize the government of the...

The Trump administration has scrambled the cards in the trade policy world. Not only will the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) be reopened — with uncertain results — but President Donald Trump has scuttled the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by announcing the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement. Canada, originally cool toward the TPP, pushed hard to be included in it. The TPP...

When U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the plug on U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership in January, it was a bad day for Canadian supporters of the TPP. But now it seems the TPP may still live under another guise, often referred to as the TPP 11. New studies have shown that even without U.S. participation, a transpacific agreement based on the new rules negotiated in the original...

Beijing’s Belt and Road Summit and Gala last week was not just an elaborate dinner party and display of theatrics – it was China’s version of an invitation to the global community to engage with its most ambitious trade and infrastructure project yet ­– the US$1-trillion Belt and Road Initiative. First announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is an...

Thank you President Donald Trump. Your hard talk and the consequent uncertainty in our trading relationships is motivating Canadians to reconsider how we view Asia, particularly China. We thought it was important to poll Canadians about their views on China and a China free-trade agreement (FTA) after the U.S. inauguration to see if there were any changes in attitudes towards China. The poll was...

Was the U.S.-China summit at Mar-a-Lago a bust? A whimper instead of a bang? Certainly, on the surface, the meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida earlier this month did not meet the expectations of the Fox News crowd. In fact, in the days leading up to the summit, both the Chinese and U.S. downplayed the likelihood of dramatic outcomes. In the end, it...

The new administration in Washington has caused no small amount of unease and uncertainty for Canada. President Trump’s executive order withdrawing support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and his stated goal of renegotiating NAFTA challenge Canada’s trade-reliant economy. Recent comments by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross suggest that forthcoming NAFTA negotiations will involve more than...

Canada has been fortunate to have traditional trade partners in North America and Europe as sources of growth and stability, and these partnerships must be maintained. But with the wave of deeply isolationist anti-trade rhetoric sweeping Europe and the U.S., the Asia Pacific ­­– with its fast-growing economies and expanding middle classes – makes more sense for Canada and Canadians with...

When Asia’s top business leaders joined their Canadian counterparts in Vancouver one year ago for the inaugural meeting of the Asia Business Leaders Advisory Council (ABLAC), the world by comparison was a normalized and familiar place. Twelve months later and that world is very different indeed: a wave of isolationist, nationalistic rhetoric has since swept the globe, sending a chill through...

Small and medium-sized Canadian businesses that are exporting to the U.S. suddenly have a lot to worry about. If U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that he will enact sweeping tax reforms and renegotiate NAFTA are realized, our companies are likely to see their profits fall and demand for their products and services decline. As some 88 per cent of the total exports of Canadian small businesses...

Donald Trump was not the only political figure who made a speech on January 20. A few hours earlier, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo did so as well. The PM’s annual Government Policy Speech is a cross between the U.S. State of the Union and the speech from the throne of British parliamentary practice. It’s a chance for the government to brag about its past achievements and promise more to come...

The Economist magazine recently singled Canada out as an example to the world. The magazine focused on our liberalism and tolerance, but can we be “cool” too? Japan has done it with its Cool Japan Fund. Are there lessons there for us? The Cool Japan Fund (CJF), launched three years ago, invests in promoting Japan’s unique and innovative products and services to growth markets in Asia and beyond...

The TPP, at least its current form, is dead. It was on life support throughout the U.S. election but president-elect Donald Trump has driven a stake through its heart with his announcement that he will initiate the process for the U.S. to withdraw from the deal on Day 1 of his presidency. And that will effectively end the TPP as we know it because of terms that state that the agreement will come...