Asked whether Canada would want to be included in the first joint procurement round, which would set a tight deadline for agreeing on rules around its participation with the EU, Champagne said: “I would think so … I think we want to be in the first wave, there’s no doubt.”
“The defense procurement imperative is front and center,” he said, highlighting Canada’s critical minerals and icebreakers as products it could contribute to the procurement scheme.
Trade ties
Asked whether Canada is disappointed in the U.K. and the EU for capitulating to the U.S. by signing suboptimal trade deals to avoid punishing tariffs, Champagne said “everyone has to look at their own strategic interest.”
“When I look at other countries, each of us started from a different base,” he said. “When you look at the different deals that have been struck … I think each of us found a way forward to restore a bit of certainty.”
Although there “will still be volatility and uncertainty,” global trade is in “a more stable place now,” Champagne said.
The EU is pushing for closer ties to the Pacific-centric trade group the CPTPP, which includes like-minded countries such as Canada, Japan, Australia and Mexico and is emerging as an alternative for rules-based trade away from the paralyzed World Trade Organization.
Champagne said he wants to “strengthen and expand” the CPTPP trading bloc, which he described as “a nice alternative” and “foundational for having a rule-based trading system in that part of the world.”
“I see a lot of benefit, particularly as it seems more likely than ever that there won’t be many more … multilateral trading agreements of the same scope and scale,” Champagne said.
