PM calls premiers to autumn meeting to reduce internal Canadian trade barriers

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“Foreign companies shouldn’t have easier access to Canadian markets than Canadian companies from another province.”

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Trudeau has pledged to hold meetings with the premiers annually.

The announcement of the theme of their latest get-together came after premiers were briefed on international trade issues by Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughton, at their gathering Thursday in New Brunswick.

Canadian steel and aluminum producers were slapped last month with punitive duties on exports to the United States and car makers face the prospect of further tariffs on automobiles and auto parts crossing the border.

Ontario’s auto industry would be particularly hard hit by such tariffs, and while the newly installed Progressive Conservative government under Premier Rob Ford has fundamentally disagreed with the federal Liberals in some key areas, such as on carbon pricing, it stands “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Ottawa when it comes to reducing trade barriers, the province’s economic development minister said Thursday in Washington.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office did not provide details on the exact timing and location of the first ministers meeting.

The federal government said internal trade is worth about $370 billion, or just under one-fifth of the country’s overall economic output.

It predicts that removing interprovincial trade barriers could create an economic benefit roughly comparable to the projected benefit of the Canada-European Union free trade agreement known as CETA.

The Canadian Press