NOW, it is Canada's turn to chart its own course...
Not invited to the TPP talks, Canada and China have their own tea party instead
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is quietly adopting an aggressive new trade strategy designed to be a “counterweight” to what it sees as steps by its largest trading partner — the United States — to control regional free trade.
While on an official visit to China this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao negotiated a ream of trade agreements. These included everything from sharing pandas to selling Saskatoon’s uranium yellowcake to China for its nuclear energy program. As well, Canada and China signed a foreign investment and protection agreement designed to protect investments in each other’s country.
Although Canadian officials deny these are the first steps toward an all-out free trade agreement with China, the prospects are enough to send a loud message to the United States: They can do their own deals, thank-you very much.
. . .
While reluctant to say so, the U.S. administration is becoming increasingly nervous about the growing strength of China, and its new ties to countries like Canada. In sum, America fears it is being bypassed and losing the trade and economic clout it once had — something it was trying to re-establish through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
With the collapse of the Doha Round global trade talks among 153 countries in the World Trade Organization, many countries have been actively pursing bilateral or regional trade pacts.
/more:
Read More