Prime Minister Jean Chretien pokes his head through for photographers during a signing ceremony of trade deals between Canada and China in February, 2001.FRED CHARTRAND/The Canadian Press
Canadian trade missions designed to bolster business relationships and increase bilateral trade don't do their job, according to a new report by the University of British Columbia.
The study, the first of its kind in Canada, contradicts other countries' analyses. Two of those reports found that short international visits by French, American and German heads of state increased exports by 6 to 10 per cent, as did setting up the first consulate in a new country.
Canada's highly publicized trips don't appear to have the same effect. "If following the mission there's no increase in trade, how can we say there are any benefits?" asked Keith Head, professor at UBC's Sauder School of Business, who co-chaired the study with John Ries.
Dr. Head said the study authors didn't have a vested interest in the outcome. "We went into it with open minds," he said. He noted that he was quite curious to find out which side of the argument was right.
For instance, the study quotes former Ontario premier Mike Harris calling a 2001 trade mission to China "an unqualified success," and then points out that in a 2007 paper, Carleton University trade expert Michael Hart wrote "trade missions … have virtually no enduring impact on trade." Dr. Head looked into an answer on his own and in doing so realized neither side had hard data as backup.
His team's results have come out just as Canada and the European Union are immersed in free-trade talks after meeting at summits at least annually for the past decade.
But these gatherings wouldn't make the cut for UBC's report, which targeted only two types of trips. The first were Team Canada missions led by a prime minister and that included provincial premiers; the others were Canadian trade missions headed by the international trade minister. Business groups tagged along on both types, and the trip lengths varied from three days to two weeks.
The 23 missions studied took place between 1994 and 2005, and Dr. Head's team analyzed trade data from one, two and four years after each, as well as current numbers. Combined, the figures showed the missions did not significantly boost the exchange of goods and services.
But Dr. Head said he doesn't want to ruffle any feathers. "We're not trying to say that trade missions can never, ever work."