Question Period Note: ASEAN: Trade Policy Engagement

Deepening Canada's trade and investment relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

• The government is committed to increasing Canada's trade footprint and attracting job-creating investment to Canada.
• ASEAN is one of the fastest growing economic regions in the world with over 643 million people and collectively represents Canada's sixth largest trading partner.
• Canada and ASEAN successfully concluded exploratory discussions for a possible Canada-ASEAN FTA in September 2019, and are engaging on next steps.

• An FTA with ASEAN would provide Canada with preferential market access to key economies in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

On August 29, 2020 at the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM)-Canada Consultations, Ministers endorsed a recommendation to continue engaging on a possible Canada-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA), including through developing a reference paper that would identify the scope and ambition of a potential FTA.

Canada and ASEAN concluded FTA exploratory discussions in September 2019. Canada and ASEAN held two rounds of exploratory discussions (in Singapore in July 2018 and in Laos in April 2019) and conducted a Joint Feasibility Study for an ASEAN-Canada FTA.

The Joint Feasibility Study showed potential gains for ASEAN and Canada from an FTA, with positive impact on trade and investment flows. The Executive Summary of the Joint Feasibility Study for an ASEAN-Canada FTA is available on the Global Affairs Canada website.

Canada also held public consultations in the fall of 2018 in order to seek the views of Canadians on a potential FTA with ASEAN. Overall, stakeholders expressed support for FTA exploratory discussions with ASEAN and highlighted the significant opportunities for Canadians and Canadian businesses in the ASEAN market across a broad range of sectors.

Four ASEAN member states are signatories to the CPTPP (Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam). An FTA with ASEAN would complement the CPTPP and provide Canada preferential access to the Southeast Asian market.

ASEAN comprises 10 member states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing economic regions of the world, and is a region of rising political and economic importance with a GDP of US$2.92 trillion in 2019. In 2019, the value of bilateral merchandise trade with ASEAN was CA$27.2 billion. The stock of known Canadian direct investment in ASEAN countries is CA$17.5 billion at the end of 2019 and direct investment from ASEAN into Canada neared $530 million.

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