Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development

Comité permanent des affaires étrangères et du développement international

For immediate release

Ottawa, January 30, 2018 -

Today, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development presented a report to the House of Commons entitled Moving the Relationship Forward: NAFTA Modernization and North American Trilateral Cooperation. The report is the result of the Committee’s mission to Mexico City and Washington, D.C. in October 2017, and its ongoing study of the United States, the trilateral North American partnership, and Canadian foreign policy.

The Committee’s fact-finding mission to Mexico and the United States led by the Honourable Bob Nault occurred shortly after the fourth round of NAFTA negotiations. The timing of the trip allowed for a frank exchange of views between members of the Committee and legislators from the upper and lower chambers of both countries – the Mexican Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives – regarding continental trade and other issues of common interest.

The report reinforces the importance of pursuing a modernized NAFTA that is better aligned with current economic and global realities, and ensuring that the benefits of trade are broadly shared. In this respect, the report recommends that the Government of Canada work with its Mexican and U.S. negotiating partners to promote the incorporation of progressive elements into a modernized NAFTA, including with respect to labour standards, the environment, gender, and Indigenous rights.

The Committee also calls on the negotiating partners not to set arbitrary deadlines for the conclusion of NAFTA modernization talks, and instead to support the work of their respective negotiators in finalizing the best possible deal in a reasonable period of time. It further recommends that the Government of Canada work with a range of stakeholders in Mexico and the United States, including business groups and labour unions, to ensure that accurate information about NAFTA is disseminated.

The full text of the Committee’s report is available on its website.

The report includes a supplementary opinion from the Conservative Party of Canada.