The Group of Seven wealthy nations agreed on principles to govern cross-border data use and digital trade, Britain said in what was described as a breakthrough that could liberalise hundreds of billions of dollars of international commerce.
Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, participated in the third G7 Trade and Investment Ministers’ Meeting, hosted in London, United Kingdom, by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for International Trade.
Minister Ng discussed G7 collaboration to deliver concrete outcomes at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) and make progress on WTO reform after MC12 and underlined the important work of the Ottawa Group.
She reiterated that Canada is committed to working with WTO members to conclude the negotiations on fisheries subsidies by MC12 and underlined the importance of multilateral cooperation to improve the international trade system’s ability to respond to public health emergencies. This includes leveraging the WTO declaration on trade and health, which is now supported by more than 50 WTO members, and working together to ensure it is a priority at MC12. Minister Ng also encouraged the G7 to commit to making progress at the WTO in addressing emerging issues, such as trade and gender, trade and environment, and digital trade.
On the theme of trade and the environment, Minister Ng emphasized Canada’s commitment to combatting climate change and fostering clean growth in a way that is transparent and predictable for businesses and supports open and rules-based trade. She encouraged members to support current WTO initiatives, such as the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions, to ensure the global trading system supports the G7 members’ action to address climate change.At a session on free and fair trade with a focus on forced labour, Minister Ng emphasized that Canada welcomes further collaboration with G7 members to improve transparency in global supply chains and to ensure trade and supply chains are free of goods produced by forced labour.
Minister Ng also participated in discussions regarding actions G7 members can take to address market-distorting practices, such as industrial subsidies. She encouraged countries to increase transparency on industry support measures and undertake further research on the impacts of subsidies.