Introduction
This presentation provides the analysis of Canada’s politics in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. First of all, the review of this country as a fully-democratic state will be provided to introduce it. Second, the existing global trade agreements and newly-introduced measures will be discussed. Third, the presentation will offer the analysis of the benefits of the economic response plan to understand its contribution to the global trade support. Ultimately, a brief summary of the pints covered in the presentation will be presented.
Main body
Canada is a fully democratic country (9.15 according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index) hat is located in North America and includes three territories and ten provinces (Barlow et al., 2017). This country comprises three large metropolitan areas, such as Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, with Ottawa as the capital. Canada’s government and businesses place a great emphasis on international trade to build global connections. There is a moderate political ideology, liberalism, and egalitarianism, which are the key characteristics of the chosen country (Rugman & Verbeke, 2017). Canada is considered to have a middle power on the international arena, and its main principles are peacekeeping and safety. The country is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN).
The challenge of COVID-19 impacts all the countries of the world, and the international politics of Canada should be explored to understand its response. With the rapid spread of the coronavirus, Canada initiated the total lockdown that disrupted the functioning of businesses. It should be noted that this country had free trade agreements with (FTAs) with various countries, which implied reduced entrance barriers, tariffs, and quotas. Another form of supporting the global trade referred to the foreign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPA) to promote and protect foreign investment by means of legally-binding rights and obligations. These agreements ensured that foreign companies operating in Canada are treated as domestic ones, which created a more favorable environment. Another policy that contributed to the global trade was practiced by the Canadian government are mutual recognition agreements/arrangements (MRA). They allowed accepting certification issued by foreign regulators.
In the face of COVID-19, Canada designed the Economic Response Plan, according to which the Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) is to connect the local business with the international opportunities in 160+ cities all over the globe (“Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan”, 2020). In this time of uncertainty, all the eligible companies can seek help from the Canadian government to receive advice and funding. For example, the Business Development Bank of Canada focuses on entrepreneurs only, providing a range of options for venture capital, transition capital, financing, as well as advisory services. Among the services provided, there are online sales optimization and cash flow and operations resiliency.
Keeping trade connections open is another policy that was adopted by Canada and its partners. In cooperation with the international partners, the country works on eliminating the exposure of business and employees to harmful burdens. Canada and Asia-Pacific cooperation, along with Canada and the World Trade Organization (WTO) cooperation, contribute to rule-based trade and predictability (“COVID-19 and international trade: Issues and actions”, 2020).
More to the point, Canada also signed individual agreements with several countries, including Japan, Greece, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, and so on. While the identified adjustments were introduced to minimize the adverse impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the country remains open to changes, considering that it should be flexible to promote global economic recovery.
Taking into account that the borders of many countries are still closed, it creates additional concerns for the export and import of products. In this case, the adaptation to the e-commerce is noted as a viable way to establish and strengthen online trade (Gessner & Snodgrass, 2015). Before the opening of the borders, it is critical to shift the majority of operations in the digital economy area to ensure the safety of people (“COVID-19 and Canada’s international trade”, 2020; Wolfe, 2019). The strong commercial relationships based on agreements benefits businesses, entrepreneurs, and citizens.
The critical review of the policies that are issues by Canada in response to the current pandemics shows that this country strongly supports its business residents. Canada seems to clearly understand that international trade connections are essential for not only the local businesses but also for global prosperity in a long-term period.
For businesses operating globally, the efforts of Canada to control the situation seem to be rational beneficial. The main advantage is that they focus on the positive impact on both local and foreign companies. This approach develops the relationships between the companies and offers greater opportunities for constant development (Omiunu, 2017). Although the challenges of the pandemics impacted negatively, the policies adopted by the mentioned country seem to help the businesses to revive soon.
Conclusion
To sum up, this presentation provided the analysis of Canada’s participation in the global trade in the period of COVID-19 outbreak. It was revealed that this country is loyal to both local and foreign businesses, offering them the opportunity to not only recover but also develop amid the pandemics.
References
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