Trump's G20 boycott could make room for Canada to advance other trade talks

Prime Minister Mark Carney is headed to South Africa on Friday for the G20 where there could be more space on the sidelines to advance trade talks with other countries because U.S. President Donald Trump isn't attending.

A senior Canadian official told CBC News that in Johannesburg, Canada is looking at raising funds with other countries, pushing the country's critical minerals and promoting building more ad hoc groups of nations. 

Trump is refusing to attend the G20 or send any American officials, calling it a “total disgrace” that South Africa is hosting the summit this year. A White House spokesperson said Thursday afternoon that the only U.S. presence would be a diplomat for a handover ceremony (the U.S. is next year's G20 chair).

The U.S. president continues to allege South Africa is persecuting white farmers — a claim widely disputed including by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“The absence of the United States removes a big centre of attention from the summit,” said Roland Paris, who was a senior adviser on foreign affairs to former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Without world leaders jockeying for Trump’s time and attention, Paris said, there's a bigger opening for Carney to meet one-on-one on the edges of the G20 with countries like Indonesia, France, the European Union, Germany, the U.K., India, South Korea and Mexico.

“It’s one-stop shopping for the prime minister when it comes to meeting with so many countries that we’re trying to develop closer relationships with and more trade,” said Paris, a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa.

Carney’s agenda is focused on trying to strengthen Canada and diversify trade to become far less reliant on the U.S.

American tariffs continue to pummel some Canadian sectors and uncertainty is dragging down the economy. The government’s recent budget promised to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade.

A senior Canadian official told CBC News that Carney is looking at some key bilateral meetings to make substantial progress on a few files, including encouraging foreign investment in Canada.

Carney plans on meeting with Qatar which has the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund that invests its oil and gas revenues globally, said the official, who CBC News has agreed not to name because they were not authorized to speak about the plans.

The official said Canada also wants to talk to the EU about the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) — a free trade agreement between Canada and 10 other countries in the Indo-Pacific.

The United States had been a key player in a previous version of the agreement, but Trump withdrew in 2017 before it could be ratified. Carney suggested in September he’s part of talks to try and get Europe more involved in this bloc.

Carney also plans on pushing Canada’s work on critical minerals and emphasizing that countries could build more coalitions to work on areas they agree on, including clean technology, international finance or critical minerals, the official said.