Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, speak to reporters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Tech experts are concerned a trade deal with the U.S. could compromise Canada’s digital sovereignty after Mr. Greer mentioned 'digital trade alignment' as part of an agreement.Kelly Geraldine Malone/The Canadian Press
Tech experts are expressing concern that the impending trade deal with the U.S. could compromise Canada’s sovereignty over its own digital policies – including a proposed social-media ban on those younger than 16.
Alarm bells are ringing in Canada after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer referred this week to “digital trade alignment” in a social-media post about a deal with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.
Mr. Greer said a deal would include “comprehensive market access for all American goods, economic security commitments, digital trade alignment, and many important provisions.”
But the remark has raised concerns that Ottawa has traded away some of its ability to make its own digital policies.
There are added fears that Ottawa may be preparing deep concessions on its legislative agenda to assuage the concerns of U.S. tech and streaming giants such as Google, Meta and Apple.
Among the legislation about which Washington has expressed concern is the Online Streaming Act, which became law in 2023 and forces platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime to contribute financially to Canadian cultural industries.
The Online News Act, which was passed in 2023, has also been a source of irritation in Washington, and led Meta to bar news for Canadian users on its platform. Only Google is currently captured by the law, which makes it contribute financially to Canadian news organizations in return for using their content.
The recently introduced safe social-media bill would impose a ban in Canada on those under 16 using social-media platforms, such as Elon Musk’s X.
Opinion: Ban social media for young people? Good luck with that
Matt Hatfield, executive director of OpenMedia, which advocates to keep the internet open, affordable and surveillance-free, expressed concern that a trade deal could lead to the scrapping of both the Online Streaming Act and the Online News Act, and compromise Canada’s freedom to legislate on policies in the digital sphere.
“I am concerned it may mean entrenching clauses in the new trade agreement that further compromise Canada’s ability to set meaningful independent digital policy, or regulate U.S. firms’ operations in Canada,” he said.
He said Canada needs to expand its autonomy “as digital issues become more and more impactful on everyday life, not shrink it.”
Jim Balsillie, former co-chief executive officer of BlackBerry Ltd. who chairs the Council of Canadian Innovators, said trade agreements with the U.S. have become a means of “regulatory remote control.”
“They have moved way beyond tariffs into issues of sovereign democratic realms,” he said. “We are talking about trade and tariffs, they are pushing frameworks.”
He said the details of any deal will have to be studied. But he expressed concern that Canada does not have sufficient experts “advancing sovereign interests” whereas the U.S. is “loaded with them,” including through a plethora of advisory committees.
Andrew Clement, chair of Canadians for Digital Sovereignty, said “‘alignment’ on digital trade is the polite word for adopting rules written for American platforms.”
“Canada should align with democratic allies on an open internet, not a U.S. government that seeks domination,” he said in an e-mail.
Opinion: Can Canada ever have true digital sovereignty?
Vass Bednar, managing director of the Canadian SHIELD Institute, a non-partisan think tank, said that “a huge part of the reason why Canada has been unable to regulate the harms of American big tech” is because it has traded away its right to govern through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
“I’m deeply concerned that this latest agreement is going even further. If we actually care about digital sovereignty and resilience, we need to hold onto our ability to regulate the digital platforms that Canadians use every day,” she added in an e-mail. “Trading that away for a promise of lower tariffs from Donald Trump is deeply shortsighted.”
Canadian tech entrepreneurs also expressed disquiet about the signals coming out of Washington.
Stirling Coulter-Hayward, co-Founder of Gander Social, a new Canadian-owned social-media platform, said in an e-mail: “The key question for us is whether any agreement preserves Canada’s ability to govern the technology Canadians depend on while protecting our personal data.”
“Canada needs to remain open and connected – and we can do that without sacrificing our sovereignty.”
Tamir Israel, director of the Privacy, Surveillance & Technology Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said the CCLA is concerned that a trade agreement “is going to impede Canada’s ability to address privacy and other digital concerns.”
A recently introduced privacy bill would enable Canadians to ask companies to delete their data and information – including AI deepfakes.
“Canada cannot trade away our civil liberties and our digital future in these negotiations,” Mr. Israel said.
U.S. trade representatives have expressed concerns for years over Ottawa’s Online Streaming Act. It has also been subject to a number of legal challenges involving American streaming platforms, including about a requirement that they fund local Canadian news.
The act became a trade irritant with the Trump administration because of the costs it imposes on American companies, such as Netflix and Amazon.
In an apparent concession to the American streaming giants, the Canadian Heritage Department earlier this year intervened with the CRTC to reduce the amount of money that foreign streaming platforms would have to inject into Canadian cultural industries, scrapping altogether the requirement that they fund local news.
The federal lawful access bill has also drawn the ire of Washington.
In May, two American congressional committees warned the Public Safety Minister that the bill could weaken both countries’ collective defences against hackers, harm U.S. national security and “fracture cybersecurity norms.”