Canada’s “Diversification” Trade Deal Is a Gift to Autocrats
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney is touting a trade deal with the UAE. Behind the talk of investment and partnership lies a trade agenda that weakens rights protections, boosts natural gas, and reinforces one of the world’s most repressive states.
Mark Carney’s Liberal government is selling its new partnership with the UAE as prudent statecraft. But the trade push will lock Ottawa into fossil fuel expansion, lax rights protections in its trade agreements, and closer ties to a petrostate autocracy. (David Kawai / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The announcement of a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) and huge investments between Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is being hailed as a milestone. Prime Minister Mark Carney is using this development to show that his government is serious about diversifying Canada’s trade relationships. Negotiations for a free-trade agreement (FTA) between Canada and the UAE are expected to follow.
Scratch below the surface, and the hype falls apart. Carney declared that the deal’s importance was based on building new relationships for Canada in a “more divided and dangerous world.” But indulging Abu Dhabi with trade deals and investment opportunities is not going to make for a safer and more united world. Even if Canada is forced to diversify its trade relationships away from the United States, these early signs from Carney are hardly a sign of a progressive alternative.
The UAE is facing increasing scrutiny for its increasingly imperial foreign policy. It participated in the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen and backs a separatist movement in the former South Yemen.
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