Tuesday, July 5, 2022
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Canada still a spectator on Asia: Jonathan Berkshire Miller and Karthik Nachiappan in the Hamilton Spectator

A free and open Indo-Pacific is in Canada’s core interest, yet Ottawa consistently fails to realize that truth and act on it.

June 15, 2022
in Columns, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy Program, In the Media, Indo-Pacific, Jonathan Berkshire Miller, Latest News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Photo by John Carkeet, via Flickr.

This article originally appeared in the Hamilton Spectator.

By Jonathan Berkshire Miller and Karthik Nachiappan, June 15, 2022

When U.S. President Joe Biden this spring unveiled his administration’s much-anticipated Asian economic strategy — the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) — the pact included a dozen countries representing nearly 40 per cent of the world’s economic output. But one key Pacific nation was missing from the team: Canada.

Washington’s partners in the Indo-Pacific had been hoping this announcement might show a more strategic U.S. approach to a region that balances security interests and geoeconomic developments.

The framework offers a pathway for 13 countries to negotiate rules that will eventually regulate their economic relationships. It includes all five U.S. treaty allies in Asia — Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Thailand — as well as other key states in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Canada’s exclusion marks another low point in the Trudeau government’s Asia policy, including being sidelined from security-economic mechanisms like the Australia-UK-US agreement (AUKUS), the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or Quad) and now IPEF. Canada was also left out of the new Indo-Pacific strategy released by Washington earlier this year.

In a nutshell, IPEF internationalizes Biden’s economic agenda to protect and prolong America’s economic leadership in Asia, while chipping away at China’s ascendance by enticing signatories to negotiate standards that comport with Washington’s vision. Tariffs and market access are off the table. Instead, the focus will be on regulatory harmonization, somewhat similar to expectations strewn into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The IPEF’s success will be determined by the buy-in and trust from its partners, many of whom are still burned from when Donald Trump pulled the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2016.

Does the IPEF matter for Canada? The Trudeau government doesn’t seem fazed or concerned about the exclusion, citing Canada’s presence in the CPTPP as sufficient. This reasoning, however, misses a larger political and strategic point.

One would think this Canadian government would enthusiastically consent to join this economic agenda, given its focus on fortifying supply chains, reducing inequality, mitigating climate change and controlling inflation. Frankly, whatever framework ensues will matter immensely for Canadian businesses that will bear the burden when it comes to compliance as well as opportunities lost by not being connected to IPEF-related networks.

Being part of a regional grouping like IPEF with like-minded countries also lets Ottawa make the political case domestically on the importance of the Indo-Pacific. That would then compel Canada’s foreign policy apparatus to move nimbly and proactively.

Canadian policy-makers need to hitch themselves to strategic initiatives in the region, but instead Canada is becoming more disconnected. This is symbolized by Ottawa’s inertia to produce a robust strategy for the region despite years of commitments to do so. Even non-Pacific states like Germany and the Netherlands have Indo-Pacific strategies. Ottawa’s lack of urgency is hurting Canada’s interests.

It’s facile to regard IPEF just as an economic framework that will help the U.S. and its partners cobble together rails and rules to govern the regional economy. These rules serve as an antidote to conflict but also, if successful, make the region more free, open, integrated — and protected from economic and political coercion. There’s a strategic logic driving IPEF negotiations and other emergent frameworks like the Quad and AUKUS that Canada continues to miss.

A free and open Indo-Pacific is in Canada’s core interest, yet Ottawa consistently fails to realize that truth and act on it. The IPEF is just the latest example of this. Despite the urgent challenges of a security crisis in Europe, it’s time for Canada to finally wake up to what’s happening in the vital Indo-Pacific region.

Jonathan Berkshire Miller is director and senior fellow, Indo-Pacific at the Macdonald Laurier Institute. Karthik Nachiappan is a member of the Canada India Strategic Dialogue for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and Observer Research Foundation. 

Source: Hamilton Spectator
Tags: Indo- PacificJonathan Berkshire MillerKarthik Nachiappan
Previous Post

For victims of Iran’s terrorism, the global reach of justice must never end: David Matas and Sarah Teich for Inside Policy

Next Post

A missed opportunity? Why Canada needs to craft a new strategic vision for transatlantic cooperation

Related Posts

Strategic value of Russian gains in Luhansk: Christian Leuprecht on CBC News
Multimedia

Strategic value of Russian gains in Luhansk: Christian Leuprecht on CBC News

July 4, 2022
Canada has pressing interests in the Indo-Pacific region. It’s time we started acting like it: Stephen Nagy in the Hub
Foreign Policy Program

Canada has pressing interests in the Indo-Pacific region. It’s time we started acting like it: Stephen Nagy in the Hub

July 4, 2022
Why conservatives are grateful for the society we have: Brian Lee Crowley in the National Post
Columns

Acknowledging Canada’s past blemishes is cause for hope, not despair: Ken Coates in the Globe and Mail

July 1, 2022
Next Post
A missed opportunity? Why Canada needs to craft a new strategic vision for transatlantic cooperation

A missed opportunity? Why Canada needs to craft a new strategic vision for transatlantic cooperation

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Follow us on

Newsletter Signup

First Name
Last Name
Email Address

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

Inside Policy Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
  • Advertising
  • Inside Policy Blog
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

IDEAS CHANGE THE WORLD!Have the latest Canadian thought leadership delivered straight to your inbox.
First Name
Last Name
Email address

No thanks, I’m not interested.