Canada and the Pacific Alliance

The Pacific Alliance is a regional initiative created in 2011 by Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The alliance’s goals are to promote the free movement of goods, services, capital and people and to promote greater competitiveness and economic growth in member countries.

Overview of the Pacific Alliance

The Pacific Alliance is not only a platform of commercial integration: it also develops common objectives and shares best practices in a number of areas, such as tourism, intellectual property, regulatory frameworks, gender, innovation, mining and climate change.

Joint Declaration on Partnership

The Joint Declaration on a Partnership Between Canada and the Members of the Pacific Alliance, signed in June 2016, identifies six areas for increased cooperation.

Cooperation projects

Since 2016, Canada has invested in four cooperation projects with the Pacific Alliance, which support the joint declaration.

Commercial relations

Canada has comprehensive and ambitious free trade agreements with all four alliance members.

Overview of the Pacific Alliance

The Pacific Alliance is not only a platform of commercial integration: it also develops common objectives and shares best practices in a number of areas, such as tourism, intellectual property, regulatory frameworks, gender, innovation, mining and climate change.

With a combined GDP of $2.8 trillion and 230 million inhabitants, the alliance constitutes an important market for Canada.

Of the 61 observers of the Pacific Alliance, Canada is considered one of the most active in developing dynamic and productive ties with the alliance. Canada has deepened its engagement with the alliance since becoming the first non-Latin American observer, in 2012, and the first observer to sign a joint declaration on a partnership with the alliance, in 2016.

In June 2017, the Pacific Alliance invited Canada to become an Associated State, along with Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, which requires each country to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement with the Pacific Alliance.

Canada-Pacific Alliance Joint Declaration on Partnership

The Joint Declaration on a Partnership Between Canada and the Members of the Pacific Alliance, signed in June 2016, identifies six areas for increased cooperation:

• trade facilitation and promotion
• education and training
• small and medium-sized enterprises
• science, technology and innovation
• responsible natural resource development and corporate social responsibility
• environment, including climate change and ocean conservation

Canada-Pacific Alliance cooperation projects

Since 2016, Canada has invested in four cooperation projects with the Pacific Alliance, which support the joint declaration:

• Improving Market Access and Export Readiness for Pacific Alliance Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
• Skills for Employment for the Extractives Sector of the Pacific Alliance
• Canada-Pacific Alliance Scholarships, which support alliance countries in sustainably managing and regulating their extractive sectors
• Support for enhancing measurement, reporting and verification mechanisms in collaboration with the Pacific Alliance

Canada-Pacific Alliance commercial relations

Canada has comprehensive and ambitious bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with all four Pacific Alliance members. In October 2017, Canada launched FTA negotiations with the Pacific Alliance, with a view to becoming an Associated State. Canada’s total merchandise trade with Pacific Alliance countries totalled a value of $52.1 billion in 2021—77% of Canada’s two-way trade with Latin America (excluding the Caribbean). Canada also has major investments in the four countries, with $65 billion of Canadian direct investment in 2021—73% of Canada’s total investment in Latin America (excluding the Caribbean).

Visit the Canada-Pacific Alliance Free Trade Agreement web page for more information.