In the News

Carney Leads Liberals to Victory; Trump Softens Auto Tariffs | Insight with Haslinda Amin 4/29/25

Bloomberg, April 29, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: "This is a stunning result. No body would have expected this just two months ago... This is very much a result that is shaped by President Trump. Tariffs trade war, and his threats on Canada's sovereignty and independence were the defining issues in this election and Canadians have resoundingly said 'no' to that and 'yes' to Mark Carney...

"[his] government will have to deliver some early wins and the G20 offers him a big opportunity in terms of global leadership..."

Canada PM Mark Carney signals a reset in ties with India if he returns to power

Hindustan Times, April 28, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada, and  Suvolaxmi Dutta Choudhury, Program Manager, South Asia, APF Canada.

Excerpt: Nadjibulla and Choudhury note that measures will need to be in place and taken before a semblance of normalcy can be achieved in the Canada-India relationship.

They offer suggestions such as inviting Modi for the G7 Leaders’ Summit in June this year as “India will be watching [the G7] closely, particularly regarding the handling of invitations — especially if key non-members are invited." They further suggested justice measure in both Canada and India to address the Nijjar murder similar to those carried out by  Justice general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun in the United States.

Canadians asking ‘Who will best stand up to Trump?’

Al Jazeera, April 28, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: Nadjibulla contents that today’s Canadian vote represents “one of the most consequential elections in decades... driven as much by President Trump’s tariffs, trade war and even ’51st state’ barbs as by persistent cost-of-living pressures at home”.

She added that domestic issues like Canada's housing crisis “remain urgent concerns, but Canadians are ultimately asking: who will best stand up to Washington and defend our sovereignty and economic interests?”

Canada caught up in China-U.S. trade war as Trump claims fentanyl continues to flow

CTV News, April 24, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: On the Canada-China relationship, Nadjibulla argues that "whatever difficulties we have with the U.S., China is not the solution."

Earlier Carney-Trump meeting under scrutiny as election campaign enters final days

The Vassy Kapelos Show, April 24, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: "It's clear the current situation is unsustainable for both [the U.S. and China] economies, so we likely will see some reduction in tariffs... [but] the overall relationship will remain a challenging one."

Nadjibulla argues that Trump's plan to rebalance global economic trade means that "China needs to stop exporting its way out of it's domestic economic struggles... They will need to have a rethink [on their economic system]... and make some changes.

"In terms of a full restructuring of the Chinese economy, that is going to be a longer term prospect and we'll see to what extent those changes will be happening... whether or not [China is] willing to bring about reforms that don't need it is a question mark."

Reconnecting with India

La Press, April 16, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: "On China, Canada is in tune with Western countries. On India, Canada is an anomaly."

"We need to have a relationship with India that allows us to manage disputes - and they are considerable, I don't want to minimize that," Nadjibulla argues.

She adds that "reducing the relationship between Canada and India to the sole issue of Sikh concerns or Sikh activism is detrimental to national interests and Canadian values in the broad sense."

As US and China escalate trade war, the world asks, ‘Who will blink first?’

Al Jazeera, April 16, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: "A 145-percent tariff will make it impossible for China to sell to the US – the costs on both economies will be exceptionally high... A complete decoupling is almost impossible to contemplate." 

Nadjibulla also noted that "who will blink first [between Trump and President Xi Jinping] depends on who can stand more pain and who is better prepared."

Canadian election outcome not of ‘pivotal strategic importance’ for China and India, say observers

The Hill Times, April 16, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: In regards to the upcoming Canadian election, Nadjibulla notes that China may be "watching to see what each candidate might be saying about China, and in general, China is interested in making sure that views that are not friendly to it are not being discussed in the context of the election." 

When it comes to Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy introduced in 2022 and the trade war imposed by the Trump Administration, she highlighted that "regardless of who’s the prime minister, if Canada truly wants to diversify and have more options outside the U.S., we need to redouble our efforts on the Indo-Pacific."

Trump tariffs: China calls on the US to 'correct its mistakes'

DW News, April 13, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: "Ultimately China will continue to find alternative markets, make deals with others [in the wake of Trump's tariff announcements] . . . It's going to be very difficult for some of these other economies because they would want to continue to have stable and good relations with China, but on the other hand they want to protect their markets . . . they don't want to see Chinese products that aren't able to come to the U.S. being dumped on their markets and impacting their manufacturing.

"Overall direction of travel is both the U.S. and China are trying to decouple and reroute supply chains." 

CHINA RAISES TARIFFS ON U.S. GOODS TO 125%

CTV News, April 11, 2025

Featuring: Jeff Nankivell, President & CEO, APF Canada

Excerpt: "You're not going to see China backing down anytime soon . . . both sides are anticipating there will be a negotiation somewhere down the road . . . in the coming months. 

"China has made a number of moves . . . to present itself as friendly to other countries around the world" to shore up supply chains.

In regard to the argument that Chinese exporters are engaging in unfair trading practices Nankivell says, "China has taken advantage over the years in a number of ways and there is no question that reciprocity hasn't existed . . . so there has been an imbalance, but an imbalance that the rest of the world has seen benefits as well . . . [but China] has the skills, expertise, and supply chains and logistics . . . to become th[is] unique producer of goods."

What could the trade war between China and the US mean for Canada?

CBC - Radio West with Sarah Penton, April 4, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: Nadjibulla spoke to host Sarah Penton on the potential impact of Trump's trade agenda and reducing trading between the U.S. and China on global markets, saying: "We are in a full-blown trade war, this is unchartered territory . . . whatever happens here we are all going to be impacted. 

"It really is a game of chicken and it depends who is going to blink first and who can tolerate more pain. China is demonstrating a lot of resolve . . . if there is a deal to be made I don't think it'll happen soon.

Canada exports a lot of agricultural goods . . . to China. So there's a slow down in the Chinese economy because of these tariffs and that will impact Canadian exporters as well."

What to watch for as Trump’s ‘reciprocal’ tariffs kick in

Al Jazeera, April 9, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: "A 100 per cent China tariff will shut off all Chinese exports to the US." 

Nadjibulla notes that this tariff agenda from the Trump administration will  drive up prices in a U.S. economy heavily reliant on Chinese imports and push China to seek export trading in other markets such as Europe and Southeast Asia.

“The more China-US [trade war] escalates, the more the repercussions on Southeast Asian nations and other economies around the world."

The Take: How Trump’s tariffs are changing the rules of global trade

Al Jazeera - The Take podcast, April 7, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: "There are no words to describe how unprecedented this is, both in terms of scale . . . but also the way it was rolled out. On Tuesday, nobody knew what to expect. 

The U.S. is the biggest consumer market . . . and basically President Trump said 'We are closed for business.'' [A]nd this will be hugely devastating for the U.S economy and other economies around the world. 

It's the largest trade war in modern history. It will have implications on everything: on how we buy stuff, on how we make stuff, employment, inflation, all of those things. And it tries to remake 80 years of global trade policy that the U.S. led."

Trump's tariffs are hitting China's friends hard — and giving Beijing a golden opportunity

Business Insider, April 4, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Excerpt: "Strategically, the US is now handing a victory to China in the US-China competition.

"If the US is preoccupied with competing with China, it is ceding ground and losing influence by essentially making China the only possible alternative for many of these economies" affected by President Trump's tariffs. 

The secret to Japan’s wind power industry? Robots!

CBC - What On Earth, March 22, 2025

Featuring: Cathy Senay, APF Canada 2024-25 Media Fellow

Topic: Wind turbines have been in operation for more than two years now. The project provides energy to more than 37,00 households.

But Japan "has the fast rate of population aging in the world . . . it's a big challenge . . . the robotics solution is part of the country's culture." 

The Japanese clean energy sector is looking to automate the maintenance of offshore wind turbines in the face of an aging, and thus reduced, working population. Cathy Senay visited some of these wind turbine companies in Japan to understood how robots are innovating Japan's clean energy initiative.

Global Affairs Canada funds new research project building peace in Myanmar

University of Winnipeg News, April 3, 2025

Featuring: Canada-in-Asia Conference (CIAC) 2025

Topic: "Following Canada’s Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development’s visit to Singapore and Brunei in February 2025 for the third annual Canada-in-Asia Conference (CIAC), she announced the funding of the first $4 million over four years, under the Regional Connectivity Envelope (RCE), to support Canadian non-governmental organizations, Indigenous organizations representing First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and academics as they pursue initiatives with Indo-Pacific partners in key areas of mutual interest such as security, climate, and trade. "

Trump, this strange antidote

La Presse, April 1, 2025

Featuring: Dr. Raja Mohan, APF Canada Indo-Pacific Visiting Scholar and visiting professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies, and Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President Research & Strategy, APF Canada.

Topic: Dr. Mohan notes that "both [Canada and India] are adept at playing the game of who's right, but there comes a time when it's necessary to take a deeper look at the relationship. And my feeling is that the arrival of a new prime minister in Canada gives India that opportunity." 

Meanwhile, Nadjibulla points out that exploring economic partnerships with India does not mean Canada should "sideline pressing issues. There has been a clear violation of Canada's sovereignty; we cannot look the other way. We must ensure that there are procedures in place to ensure justice and accountability, but we must also rebuild trust between our police services, which has been undermined for 40 years. Canada must look to its own national interest and not focus the relationship solely on diaspora issues." 

New World Disorder

National Observer - Mortal Giants Podcast, March 25, 2025

Featuring: Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada

Topic: Trump "believes in a world which is very much a zero sum transactional one. He doesn't believe in.... enlightened self interested, that it benefits the U.S. to be the leader of a rules based international order.

...he dosent believe you can have winners through trade. To him someone has to be a winner and someone has to be a loser... 

President Trump doesn't believe in that positive sum foreign policy.... he believe the world has treated the U.S. unfairly... that the US has somehow been taken advantage of rather than recognizing the U.S. has been the most innovative and prosperous country in the world... and that alliances are sources of strength."

Your World Tonight - March 22

CBC - Your World Tonight, March 22, 2025

Featuring: Cathy Senay, APF Canada 2024-25 Media Fellow

Topic: Under the APF Canada Media Fellowship banner, Senjay travelled to Japan to explore the country’s use of industrial and humanoid robots to meet the demographic challenges of a shrinking workforce and aging population.

"At the entrance of [a Japanese] nursing home, a small robot called Paro greets visitors...

Turning trade attention away from U.S. towards Asia will be complicated

CBC – On The Coast with Gloria Macarenko, March 21, 2025

Featuring: Jeff Nankivell, President & CEO, APF Canada

Excerpt: “We haven't seen any significant decline in [trade] despite the diplomatic tensions between Canada and China, and trade with India is also very significant, and trade with other parts of Asia is growing . . . this only becomes more important given the uncertainties around our export markets in the United States.

"I just got off the plane from a visit to New Delhi and Tokyo, and the interest of Canadian businesses to be exploring new markets, the ones who are not already engaged in parts of Asia, they're making first-time visits . . . we are starting to see an uptick in the interest in exploring opportunities.” 

When discussing Canada's tariffs on EVs from China, Nankivell stressed that Canada "should position ourselves as a rules abiding member of the international trading system. Arbitrary actions, simply following in lock step with what the U.S. doesn't look good for us in terms of those [overseas trade] relationships. Whether [those measures] can be rolled back at some point is tied up in the dynamic of the Canada-U.S. two way relationship."