In December 2023, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on International Trade (CIIT) published a report titled “Non-tariff Barriers to Trade: Some Canadian Perspectives.” The report identified barriers to trade for specific industries and business communities, and put forward a number of recommendations to remove non-tariff trade barriers in free tree agreement negotiations, including by:
- Removing non-tariff barriers that particularly affect small- and medium-sized businesses;
- Ensuring that dispute resolution mechanisms exist in agreements and are actually enforced;
- Harmonizing regulations, in particular for hard-hit industries such as agriculture and automotive;
- Monitoring imports of food imports at the border to ensure reciprocity of standards exists and is not only a theoretical objective;
- Preserving Canada’s right to legislate for the common good.
On April 9, 2024, the government tabled its response to the CIIT’s report.