Canada , sh r oud ed in the sh adow of the " Dar ma cle an Sw ord " of US tari ffs , is seek ing to expand its trade relations with countries other than the United States .
The EU , Canada ' s second - lar gest trading partner , has been the focus of Canada ' s tigh ten ing .
On February 8, local time , Canada ' s Minister of Ex port Promo tion , International Trade and Economic Development Wu Feng yi told the media that Canada is seek ing to strengthen economic and trade ties with the EU to counter the threat of tari ffs from the United States .
The EU already has a Free Trade Agreement with Canada .
Wu Feng Instr uments revealed that in addition to existing trade agreements , Canada is seek ing to cooper ate with more Canadian companies to enter the EU market , while also encour aging more EU companies to enter Canada .
She noted that important miner als and small businesses will be the focus of Canada ' s enhan ced cooperation with the EU .
On Saturday , Wu Feng yi met with EU trade affa irs chief Mar os Se f kov ic .
Canada and the EU are building a raw materials partners hip in 2021, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Tru de au secret ly said during a meeting with Canadian business leaders on Friday that Canada ' s important mineral resources were the main reason U . S . President Donald Trump sou ght to sw al low Canada .
Canada has 31 important mineral resources , and is the only Western country rich in cob alt , gra ph ite , lithi um and nick el , which are important for the manufact ure of batteri es and electric vehicles .
Canada is the world ' s second largest producer of ni obi um , and the fourth largest producer of indi um .
Ni obi um is an important metal in the a eros pace industry , while indi um is an important raw material for sem ic ondu ctors .
More than 70 percent of Canadian ex ports go to the United States , and if the United States imp oses a 25 percent tariff on Canadian products , the country ' s economy will be sever ely sho cked .
To move away from a severe depend ence on the United States for ex ports , Canada aims to increase its ex ports to non - US destin ations by 50 percent by 202 5.
Canada is also focus ing on the Asia - Pa cific region as it se eks to strengthen its ties with the EU , and Wu will lead a deleg ation to Australia , Singapore and Br unei next week .
Fa ced with the threat of U . S . anne x ation and tari ffs , the Canadian media also began discuss ing Canada ' s possible EU member ship .
Although the EU tre aty stipula tes that only European countries can join the EU , Canadian media have point ed out that the tre aty does not clearly define what " European " means , and that Canada conform s to EU standards , both institution ally and in terms of values .
In addition , some media point out that Canada ge ographic ally me ets the conditions of EU member ship because the island of Els mere in the Canadian Arctic is adja cent to the Dan ish over seas territory of Green land .
However , in actual operation , Canada ' s EU member ship will be very difficult .
EU acces sion is a long process , the EU currently has nine candid ate countries , among which Turkey has been waiting for more than 20 years .
Release date: 2024-11-21 13:22:07
