Poloz urges support for TPP and Canada-Europe trade deals

The governor of the Bank of Canada is wading into the hyper-politicized debate over a pair of controversial trade deals.

“[Policymakers] should be working to help initiatives such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union become a reality,” Stephen Poloz said...

While TPP has emerged as a flashpoint for controversy amid disputes over how much Canada stands to gain from the deal, Poloz said economic productivity will improve as companies and investors find ways to enhance supply chain efficiency in some regions.

Poloz argued, however, that overall global trade is likely to grow more slowly than it did in the past, but this should not be taken as a sign of an impending recession.

About half of the slowdown in trade growth among advanced economies in the years since the financial crisis can be explained by weak economic activity, particularly sluggish business investment, Poloz said.

But policy makers also need to consider whether the rapid trade growth seen in the 1990s and 2000s was an exception rather than the rule as it was driven by globalization...

This has been excerpted from 26 April 2016 edition of the Business News Network.