After the U.S. triggered a trade war, Ottawa will move to prevent the “predatory” takeover of Canadian businesses by foreign entities, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says.
This comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that the aim of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s tariffs was to weaken Canada economically to make the country easier to annex.
“We actually have to fold back on the one thing he [Trump] has said repeatedly — that what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that will make it easier to annex us,” Trudeau said on Tuesday.
Champagne said the federal government is updating the guidelines to the Investment Canada Act (ICA) to include the “potential of an investment to undermine Canada’s economic security” as a factor that officials will weigh when assessing the risks of proposed foreign takeovers.
The ICA is part of the framework through which the government of Canada reviews significant foreign investments for their economic benefits to Canada, and all foreign investments for their potential risks to Canada’s national security.
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“As a result of a rapidly shifting trade environment, some Canadian businesses could see their valuations decline, making them susceptible to opportunistic or predatory investment behaviour by non-Canadians,” Champagne said in a statement.
The minister said it would “run counter to Canada’s interests” to allow these companies to fall victim to predatory behaviour and would be to the “detriment of Canada’s economic security.”
“[We] continue to balance the objectives of encouraging foreign investment through an open and certain investment climate while safeguarding Canada’s interests by refusing foreign investments that would be harmful to the Canadian economy, Canadian workers, or our national security.”
Trudeau had said that Canada would soon act on this front.
“We will defend Canadian jobs. We will take measures to prevent predatory behaviour that threatens Canadian companies because of the impacts of this trade war, leaving them open to takeovers,” Trudeau said in Ottawa on Tuesday.
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