Implement a new Trade and Investment Strategy

What success looks like

Double the number of high-growth firms in Canada by 2025; increase Canada's goods and services exports—from natural resources, advanced manufacturing, agri-food and others—by 50% by 2025; increase global investment in Canada; more good-paying, middle class jobs for Canadians.

Government's narrative on progress

The government is encouraging global investment and promoting Canada's economic brand through the Invest in Canada Agency. On November 30, 2018, Canada, the United States, and Mexico signed the new Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Parties will now undertake their domestic process towards ratification and implementation of the CUSMA. The government has successfully completed the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Provisional application of the trade agreement took effect in September 2017 and will give consumers more choice, boost Canadian businesses' access to new customers, create good, middle-class jobs, and help grow the economy. On March 8, 2018, the Government of Canada signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with 10 other countries in the Pacific region. The fifth round of negotiations toward a comprehensive free trade agreement between the Mercosur member states and Canada took place in March 2019. Round 7 of negotiations towards a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) also took place in October. Since January 2016, CanExport has provided financial support to 1,829 Small and Medium Enterprise-led projects aimed at diversifying export markets, in a variety of sectors, and reaching over 90 different markets around the world. To date, for every hundred supported projects, participating firms have reported on average some 92 export successes at the time of project completion, for a collective impact of almost over $375 million in exports to new markets. Budget 2017 announced $950 million to superclusters in highly innovative industries, and, in February 2018, in cooperation with the private sector and academic partners, the government announced the creation of five superclusters (Digital Technology; Protein Industries; Advanced Manufacturing; Artificial Intelligence; and Ocean) that will create great new opportunities for Canadian companies to innovate, scale up and grow into globally successful firms. To support Canadian firms and increase exports to new markets, Budget 2018 provides up to $75 million to build a stronger diplomatic presence and Trade Commissioner Service salesforce in China and Asia, as well as other initiatives to open market opportunities in the region. In June 2018, the government announced it will invest $50 million over five years to help Canadian companies diversify their exports to take advantage of new trade agreements, such as CETA and CPTPP. On November 21, 2018, the government, through the Fall Economic Statement, proposed to launch an Export Diversification Strategy with a target of increasing Canada's overseas exports by 50 per cent by 2025. In total, the Strategy will invest $1.1 billion over the next six years, starting in 2018-19, to help Canadian businesses access new markets. The Strategy will focus on three key components: investing in infrastructure to support trade, providing Canadian businesses with resources to execute their export plans and enhancing trade services for Canadian exporters.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.