Tausi Insider

Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly and Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendocino announce Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy in Vancouver on Nov. 27. DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press Shawn Barber is a former foreign service officer and Canadian ambassador. Until June of this year he was the head of the economic security task force for Public Safety Canada. He lives in Washington. Canada’s new Indo-Pacific Strategy offers an opportunity for the federal government to take the urgent action required to respond to the threats China poses to our economic security, particularly our innovative technology sector. But while it is a good start, it’s not enough. Canada’s strategy needs to go much further. Failure to act now could not only have dire consequences for our national security but also erode our long-term economic competitiveness. As Canadian Security Intelligence Service director David Vigneault said in 2021 about Chinese industrial espionage: “It is our country’s future that is ...

World Trade Organization arbitrators concluded Wednesday that the United States was out of line in requiring products from Hong Kong to be labelled as “Made in China,” a move that was part of Washington’s response to a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters there in 2019 and 2020. A WTO dispute panel found the U.S. violated its obligations under the trade body’s rules and rejected Washington’s argument that U.S. “essential security interests” allowed for such labelling. The panel said the situation did not pose an “emergency” that would allow for an exemption under the trade body’s rules. The United States or Hong Kong could appeal the ruling to the WTO’s appeals court. However, the Appellate Body is currently inactive because the U.S. has almost single-handedly held up appointments of new members to the court amid concerns it had strayed beyond its mandate. As a result, any such appeal would go into an arbitration void and remain unsettled. The United States trade representative’s of...