In the News

Canada Goose Built a Luxury Empire by Betting Big on China

The Walrus,  June 10, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Senior Fellow, Jia Wang

Excerpt: Looking back to the 1980's market reforms and subsequent boom in the 2010's, Wang notes that this was the time in which foreign brands sought to break into the Chinese domestic market. 

“China was the land of opportunity for many decades. It was the place to go if you wanted to grow your business."

Values alone cannot build serious foreign policy

The Globe and Mail,  June 9, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Senior Fellow, David McKinnon

Excerpt: In an op-ed for The Globe and Mail, McKinnon laminates on Canada's foreign policy missteps. He notes that "for Canada to navigate this [global] disorder, our international engagement needs to be at the centre of policy and public discourse. We can no longer outsource our prosperity and security to global systems or allies or think that our seat at high tables like the Group of Seven is inevitable (or, indeed, that the G7 retains the relevance it had). The burden is now ours, guided by interests, values and a renewed sense of identity and common purpose."

What does Trump 2.0 mean for Canada-China relations?

The Globe and Mail,  June 9, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Senior Fellow, Lynette Ong

Excerpt: "The Second Trump Administration has brought the United States-led liberal order to the brink. its treachery of the very notion of western alliance has upended enduring security and trade pacts among western democracies when many of its allies such as Canada sent troops to fight along side American forces in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks." 

International relations expert says India should have a seat at G7 table

Global News  June 7, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Nadjibulla notes that India's invitation to the G7 Summit was a "necessary decision" that "speaks to the significance of India as a regional and increasingly global power." 

At the same, she reminds Canadians that the "relationship with India is complex and has many dimensions." She follows that the legal and diplomatic processes and channels between Canada and India "will need to continue. So this invitation is in no way saying those issues are not important and will not be dealt with." 

Modi’s G7 invite by Canada welcomed by industry

Hindustan Times, June 7, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Regarding India's invitation to the G7 Summit, Nadjjibulla characterizes it as "not a concession, but a strategic necessity” for “Canada’s own interests, for the credibility of the G7 and for a rules-based order now strained by Moscow, Beijing and Washington.”

“With diplomatic finesse and long-term vision, Canada can both defend its values and strengthen ties with India. A G7 invitation should be only the first step in that process."

image Why did Carney invite Indian PM Modi to G7? | Power & Politics

Hindustan Times, June 7, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: "It was a difficult decision,... but it was a necessary one... it is important for India to be at the table because the decisions the G7 are going to have with the larger network of partners have immediate implications for India and will then need to be followed up on by India

"It sets the stage for the long road ahead in rebuilding this relationships and finding justice and accountability for the concerns Canada has. 

"We can't just engage in diplomacy with those whom we like. Diplomacy is not a gift to our friends, its not a concessions, its an necessary tool to advance our interests and defends our values."

Prime Minister Carney’s G7 invite to Modi sends ‘wrong’ message, Liberal MP says

Global News, June 7, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Nadjibulla notes that Canada is "in a different moment when it comes to international relations" with India compared to the other G6 nations

“From tariffs to the trade agenda and to the realignment that we’re seeing around the world of different powers, I think it’s important for Canada to approach diplomacy differently." 

The China Challenge in Critical Minerals: The Case for Asymmetric Resilience

The Diplomat, June 6, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Senior Fellow, Pascale Massot

Excerpt: "China is the dominant player in global critical minerals supply chains, especially in the midstream segments... As geopolitical strategic competition with China heats up, the realization that this paradigm is ill adapted to the pursuit of economic security has set Western governments scrambling to put together a set of responses building on the de-risking agenda" 

Massot proposes a "asymmetric resilience" model when it comes to critical mineral supply chains which would "recalibrate the balance of strength and vulnerability between China and the West by modulating each side’s exposure to risk and developing targeted areas of dominance along global supply chains."

Modi deserves a spot in the room at the G7 Leaders’ Summit

The Globe and Mail, June 5, 2025

Author: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Note: This op-ed was published after the original list of invitees was reported Thursday and before the decision to invite Prime Minister Modi was made Friday. 

Excerpt: "With Canada hosting the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Alberta later this month, Prime Minister Mark Carney faced an early foreign-policy test: whether to invite India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

In an op-ed published in The Globe and Mail, Nadjibulla highlights that while "some voices in Canada... argued New Delhi should be kept at arm’s length until the investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s 2023 murder is complete. That impulse... underestimates what is at stake for Canada’s own interests, for the credibility of the G7 and for a rules-based order." 

"Inviting Mr. Modi was not a concession, but a strategic necessity."

Smarter trade data is needed for companies and governments to combat a 'thicker' border

Foreign Policy,  June 5, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Distinguished Fellow, Danielle Goldfarb

Excerpt: In a special feature for Foreign Policy, Goldfarb notes that Canada needs "to upgrade its supply chain visibility, especially as the country seeks to deepen trade links with Europe and reduce its relative exposure to the U.S. market."

Canada’s Delusional Diversification Strategy to China

WGI World,  June 5, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Senior Fellow, Stephen Nagy

Excerpt: "It is crucial to recognize that Trump’s trade policies, erratic as they sometimes appear, represent not a rupture but a continuation of an American economic reorientation that began under President George W. Bush and accelerated through subsequent administrations. 

"Each presidency has grown increasingly wary of unfettered free trade, recognizing America’s need to rebuild its industrial base to compete with China... Trump 2.0 represents not a break from bipartisan consensus but its most aggressive manifestation."

The South Koreans' Great Escape

La Presse,  June 5, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Distinguished Fellow, Yves Tiberghien

Excerpt: Looking at the newly minted presidential election results from South Korea, Yves notes that "Even though the electorate rejected martial law, Korea remains split in two. The divisions are primarily regional. The southeast of the country is strongly conservative. The southwest supported Lee by 80%. There are also divisions based on gender and age.

"After the election, these divisions remain, as do the rhetoric that comes with them. Each side sees the other as an existential threat."

U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum double to 50 percent

The Early Edition with Stephen Quinn (CBC Radio),  June 4, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Distinguished Fellow, Yves Tiberghien

Excerpt: Yves notes that steel and aluminum exports from Canada represents "up to 1% of Canadian GDP and 3-4%exports," with tariffs impacting works across prominent provinces such as Ontario, Quebec, and BC. 

But he notes that we "shouldn't panic yet as [the measures] are probably not sustainable for the U.S. It is really a bargaining position... and Canada can easily retaliate" when it comes to steel imports. 

He notes that Canada should "not quite be done with the U.S. [as a trading partner," but that we should still "try to find new markets."

Beijing envoy urges Ottawa to end tariffs on Chinese EVs and warns against ‘Cold War mentality’

The Globe and Mail  June 4, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Despite China remaining an important trading partner in sectors like  agriculture and energy, Nadjibulla notes that the “concerns that were present with respect to China just a few months ago are still there. Just because our relationship with the U.S. is now difficult, it does not mean that those national-security concerns or economic-security concerns have disappeared.”

Former PM says Canada should move past 'recent disputes' with India amid murder probe

CBC News, June 2, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Regarding security and diplomatic concerns between Canada and India, Nadjibulla notes that the issue "needs to be dealt with, but in its own track" such as a mechanism  designed "to deal with this immediate issue, but also to build trust, and create a platform for dialogue."

"We need to proceed step by step and address the issues that are difficult. And at the heart of that are national security concerns, on both sides." 

Looking ahead to the G7 summit in June she highlights that "since 2019, India has been invited to every G7 in recognition of its growing importance, both as the fourth-largest economy as well as an important voice for the Global South." Canada's new government thus has a clearly opportunity to start re-building relations with India.

Opinion | As Malaysia’s Huawei chip storm shows, sovereign AI is a fraught pursuit

South China Morning Post, June 1, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Distinguished Fellow, Elina Noor

Excerpt: "Is a national AI architecture run on Chinese integrated circuits... materially distinguishable from an AI stack underlaid by Meta or Google subsea data cables?

... In other words, what is there to differentiate a Chinese AI stack from an US AI stack in the eyes of third countries when both lock in external reliance for the longer term?

For many non-superpower countries aspiring to autonomy, sovereign AI looks realistically more like tweaking AI models or architecture for local use and governance, rather than constructing the stack from scratch." 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warns about China's ambitions in Asia | DW News

DW News, May 31, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: Nadjibulla responds to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's address at the  Shangri La Dialogue hosted in Singapore, noting that the U.S. seems "committed to deterring China's actions of coercion and aggression in the [Indo-Pacific] region." 

"the message to China was much... the U.S. cannot be pushed back from the region and the U.S. will stand up for it's allies. It was the most comprehensive articulation of the depart of Defence's vision for the the Indo-Pacific 

"There is some continuity here from with what the Biden administration... and under the first Trump administration... what's different this time around is that the defence strategy is completely contradictory with the economic strategy and the economic approach to the region."

India-Philippines reaching for new strategic horizons

Asia Times, May 29, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Indo Pacific Research Fellow, Don McClain Gill

Excerpt: "The Philippines and India have witnessed an upward trajectory in their bilateral partnership amid growing uncertainty over Indo-Pacific security architecture brought by China’s expansionism.

"... The Philippines’ growing strategic cooperation with India demonstrates this multi-alignment, and more robust bilateral ties would complement US interests in preserving the regional rules-based order."

*first appeared on Pacific Forum 

Pakistan wants South Asian stability to be a top issue on G7 communiqué

The Hill Times, May 28, 2025

Featuring: APF Canada Vice-President Research & Strategy Vina Nadjibulla

Excerpt: When it comes to the upcoming G7 meeting, Nadjibulla notes that for the group "to play a role in mediating the [India-Pakistan] issue would be really difficult." 

Intermediary measures by the G7, she notes, are unlikely to go beyond the May 9th  communiqué. "If anything is to be said it would be along the lines of ensuring that there is stability in South Asia and de-escalation, but I don’t think that we’ll see further calls for mediation.”

"The G7 could reiterate the language of the statement that it issues, but I don’tPakistan wants South Asian stability to be a top issue on G7 communiqué...  There’s a very big difference between India and Pakistan in how the issue of Kashmir should be dealt with.”

Pakistan’s Generals Get a Reputational Boost

Foreign Policy - South Asia Brief, May 21, 2025

Featuring: Michael Kugelman, the writer of Foreign Policy’s weekly South Asia Brief and APF Canada Senior Fellow 

Excerpt: "The highlights this week: Pakistan’s military sees its political fortunes improve after the recent conflict with India, U.S.-India trade talks keep moving with the Indian commerce minister in Washington, and India announces import restrictions on goods from Bangladesh.

"...India-Pakistan narrative battle. In the wake of their latest conflict, India and Pakistan have each announced that a group of prominent individuals, mainly senior politicians and former top diplomats, will travel the world in the coming days to get international buy-in for their governments’ positions on the crisis."