China is influential, but would not have succeeded in changing the UN human rights system without quiet consent from countries who wished to trade with it, including Canada.
Despite agreeing to a ceasefire, the two sides offered differing depictions of their trade war truce that show a lasting peace may still be out of reach.
The G20’s power comes from its members, but also vital is its informal structure and close working relationship with other international organisations.
Boasting the world’s biggest and strongest economy, the U.S. has enormous leverage when it sits down with a partner to negotiate a trade deal. Threats and tariffs are not really helping.
The ‘thin green line’ of resistance against any new infrastructure for shipping oil, gas and coal abroad has won many battles. But it faces a new source of pressure: the Trump administration.
The fundamental point is that those were desperate days for the Coalition and so are these. “McMahon was in survival mode,” says author Patrick Mullins. The same could be said of Morrison.
Canada needs to diversify its trade beyond the United States and increase links to rapidly growing emerging market economies, particularly in Asia, despite the “anti-China” clause in the USMCA.
Millions of American flags come from China. Yet despite being symbols of patriotism, they’re not among the products subject to new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
Marise Payne this week became the first Australian foreign minister to visit China in three years – another indication that the frost in the relationship is thawing.
Canada’s ongoing Port Modernization Review should lead to greater clarity of port purpose, less political control through board appointments and better reporting standards.