LONDON — Two of the world’s biggest trading blocs are cautiously eyeing closer ties to short-circuit Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The European Union and a 12-nation Indo-Pacific bloc are opening talks to explore proposals to form one of the largest global economic alliances, multiple people with knowledge of the talks told POLITICO.
Canada is spearheading the discussions after Prime Minister Mark Carney called on middle powers to buck trade war coercion last month, days after Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Denmark’s European allies if it didn’t cede Greenland.
Ottawa is “championing efforts to build a bridge between the Trans-Pacific Partnership [CPTPP] and the European Union, which would create a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people,” Carney told world leaders and the global business elite in Davos.
I like the idea of working around the US. But, I don’t like that these trade deals are typically designed to help big businesses, not individuals. Like, even back in the good ol’ days when NAFTA was in place, maybe Canadian businesses could import from the US without any tariffs. But, I, as an individual consumer, couldn’t buy something from the US without being hit with a big duty payment. In addition, the deals often have things in them that prevent participating countries from having sane laws if those laws interfere with businesses at all. For example, the only reason that anti-circumvention measures exist in Canada is that it was a condition of trade deals that Canada adopt the worst parts of the DMCA.
Future deals should allow individual people to buy things cheaply overseas, and not just allow businesses to do that. They should also address the freer movement of people between countries. And, they shouldn’t prevent countries from adding laws that protect people or the environment.