Canada-China FTA will leave workers worse off

Global Affairs Canada is currently consulting Canadians on a possible Canada-China free trade agreement. In CCPA’s submission to this process, CCPA senior researcher Scott Sinclair argues that an FTA based on Canada’s standard template would almost certainly reinforce rather than improve upon Canada’s imbalanced and deleterious trade with China. It can also be expected to leave workers, especially those who are mid-skilled and without college education, worse off by further eroding Canada’s manufacturing base, intensifying competition with lower-waged and poorly protected Chinese workers, and exacerbating domestic inequality. For these reasons, new and different approaches for engaging China (outside an FTA) should be explored.

Read the full submission online here