Canada-Australia Commerce: Enhancing the Relationship

A Report for the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, 2012

81 Pages Posted: 3 May 2012 Last revised: 22 Sep 2014

See all articles by Dan Ciuriak

Dan Ciuriak

Ciuriak Consulting Inc.; Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI); C.D. Howe Institute; Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada; BKP Development Research & Consulting GmbH

Date Written: April 25, 2012

Abstract

Canada and Australia are highly similar economies in terms of size, wealth, governance structures, most observable socioeconomic characteristics, and resource endowments. Reflecting this, their patterns of revealed comparative advantage in international trade are highly similar. At the same time, they are amongst each others' most distant trading partners. This study demonstrates that similarity and distance systematically favour services over goods trade and commercial presence/vertical investment over cross-border trade. Based on this, the study explores the potential to expand bilateral trade and investment, including computable general equilibrium simulations of the impact of tariff elimination and services trade liberalization. The study also examines the possibility of Canada and Australia leveraging the similarities in their economies, their societies and their governance system, as well as the high degree of confidence earned by years of close and sustained inter-agency cooperation, to create a virtually seamless economic space for the movement of goods, services, capital and labour bilaterally in the context of a broader trans-Pacific trade agreement.

Keywords: Canada, Australia, trade liberalization, computable general equilibrium simulations

JEL Classification: F14

Suggested Citation

Ciuriak, Dan, Canada-Australia Commerce: Enhancing the Relationship (April 25, 2012). A Report for the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2050459 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2050459

Dan Ciuriak (Contact Author)

Ciuriak Consulting Inc. ( email )

83 Stewart St.
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6H9
Canada

Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) ( email )

57 Erb Street West
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6C2
Canada

C.D. Howe Institute ( email )

67 Yonge St., Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario M5E 1J8
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Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada ( email )

Canada

HOME PAGE: http://ciuriakconsulting.com/

BKP Development Research & Consulting GmbH ( email )

Romanstrasse 74
München, 80639
Germany

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