Report by Canada

Trade is essential to Canada?s economy, with one in six Canadian jobs linked directly to exports. Canada is proud of the role that it has played in helping to build a global order based on the rule of law and an aspiration to free and more open trade. Unfortunately, the integrity of the global trading system, under which so many around the world have prospered, is currently facing unprecedented challenges. Growing concern that the benefits of trade have not been shared by all and that the existing rules no longer reflect an appropriate balance of rights and obligations has helped propel a rise in protectionism. This has taken the form of rising trade restrictive measures and unilateral actions that hinder and restrict international trade. Bilateral conflicts that give rise to unilaterally determined trade policies constitute a serious threat to a rules-based trade regime.