Good afternoon.
I would like to begin by thanking President Marcos and the Filipino people for their warm hospitality on behalf of myself, the ministers, our team, and all Canadians.
During this visit, Canada is deepening our ties with the world’s most dynamic region.
Let me speak first about the Philippines.
The Philippines is one of Canada’s closest partners in the Indo-Pacific region. Our people-to-people ties are strong – with more than one million Canadians who trace their ties direct to the Philippines – as well as increasing travel and cultural exchanges.
The Philippines is one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies – with over 110 million people and $700 billion in economic activity.
As part of this strategic partnership that President Marcos and I launched over the course of the last year, we are now working even more closely on defence and security.
Our Status of Visiting Forces Agreement has been ratified. We just held our first military-to-military talks, and today we are launching a General Security of Information Agreement so our countries can share sensitive information securely.
Last year at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, President Marcos and I agreed to launch free trade negotiations between our two countries.
Since then, Minister Sidhu, Secretary Roque, and their teams have worked intensively.
And today, I am pleased to announce that we have successfully concluded negotiations on a Canada-Philippines free trade agreement. We will work just as fast to finalise the deal and bring it into force next year. It was nine months of negotiations to get here.
This is good news for Canadians in the agricultural sector, in the aerospace sector, in artificial intelligence, and for businesses and workers in forest products, mining, and energy services and beyond.
In each of these sectors, Canadian supply is meeting Philippine demand. And with this agreement, our producers and our companies have a bigger competitive advantage. We expect trade between our countries to triple over the next decade.
Our agreement with the Philippines was one of two ambitious goals Canada set at last year’s ASEAN Summit. The second was to conclude negotiations on a comprehensive ASEAN-Canada free trade agreement.
As a reminder, ASEAN brings together 11 countries and nearly 700 million people, with a combined economy worth close to $6 trillion.
And as you’ll see with the announcements coming out of the Summit in the next few days, those markets are moving more closely together.
ASEAN is already Canada’s fifth-largest trading partner, with more than $50 billion a year in two-way trade – up by nearly 25% over the past year.
When we formed government a little over a year ago, the Canada-ASEAN negotiation had become stalled. We set an ambitious one-year timeline to finalise them, we’ve stayed focused, and have dedicated significant resources to get this done, including supporting trade capacity in some of the smaller ASEAN states.
We have now substantially completed negotiations. We will now move quickly toward signature next year and bringing the agreement into force. This is ASEAN’s first trade agreement outside of the region and a demonstration of our deepening partnership.
Our new agreement will reduce or eliminate tariffs on Canadian exports in the region. It will increase our exports by more than $2 billion, add more than $1.5 billion to our economy, and support 14,000 jobs.
There are some overlapping trade agreements, including bilateral agreements with individual ASEAN members and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), of which Canada and some ASEAN members are part.
So, this umbrella agreement for ASEAN helps bring in countries that aren’t already covered by those agreements. It also makes it easier to trade across the region and for supply chains to operate across the region into Canada.
Before I conclude, let me step back.
We are pursuing sovereignty for Canada so we can continue to live our lives as we choose. That is built on strength at home and diverse partnerships abroad.
At home, we are strengthening our economy by unleashing an investment supercycle, taking back control of immigration, launching the most ambitious workforce training in generations, all while reinforcing Canada’s strongest fiscal position amongst the major economies.
Abroad, today’s announcements are part of a strategy of developing a dense web of reliable partners to create more opportunities for our businesses, more choices for Canadians, better jobs for our workers, and reduce our reliance on the United States.
Our goal has been to double non-U.S. exports by 2035. We’re ahead of schedule, such that nearly one in three Canadian export dollars now comes from outside the U.S. – our highest share in 40 years.
This year alone, we signed seven new trade and investment agreements and launched negotiations for seven more.
We concluded a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the United Arab Emirates in a record 47 days. And our new comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Indonesia is Canada’s first-ever bilateral trade agreement with a Southeast Asian country.
We are acting strategically, ensuring our relationships are anchored in our values. We are working toward the deepest possible partnership – short of accession – with the European Union.
We are renewing our relationship with major global powers. In three days, I will meet with President Xi to discuss increasing trade with China. And we are working toward concluding a new free trade agreement with India by the end of the year.
We are building a stronger, more competitive, more independent Canada, turning global uncertainty into national opportunity.
One year. Two ambitious goals. Two great results.
That is the speed, pace, and ambition this moment demands.
Canada is just getting started.
Thank you.