Trade Winds — a Four-Part Series on Shifting Attitudes Toward Trade Agreements

Part 1: Canadian, U.S. Businesses Passive Toward Trade Deals

Candace Sider, vice president, regulatory affairs, Livingston International.
Article from the Global Trade.

As the Canadian and U.S. governments move toward ratification of agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) — deals that have taken years and significant amount of diplomatic capital to negotiate—new research shows many businesses believe such agreements offer them little value.

The research, conducted by Livingston International, reveals businesses across the continent have a strong indifference toward free trade agreements, with approximately four in 10 businesses believing FTAs will have no net benefit or detriment to them and an additional 11 per cent believing the costs outweigh the benefits.