Dan Ciuriak is Director and Principal, Ciuriak Consulting Inc. (Ottawa), Senior Fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (Waterloo), Fellow-in-Residence with the C.D. Howe Institute (Toronto), Distinguished Fellow with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (Vancouver), and Associate with BKP Development Research & Consulting GmbH (Munich). His areas of interest include international trade and finance, innovation and industrial policy, and economic development. He has wide-ranging experience in the analysis and formulation of public policy, development of legislation, economic analysis in support of litigation (both private and state-to-state), and training and technical assistance in applied trade analysis and modeling. He has published widely as author and editor, within government and in a personal capacity; commented in the media; and presented at academic, business and official venues, including the WTO, the World Bank, APEC, and the OECD. Recently, he participated in the industrial policy expert group in the E-15 initiative sponsored by the International Centre for Sustainable Development and the World Economic Forum developing recommendations for WTO Ministers; was co-winner of the McKinsey Global Institute essay contest, “Opportunity for Europe”, a crowd-sourced initiative to identify ways to revitalize European growth; and is currently a participant in and contributing author to the MegaReg initiative, “Contested Megaregulation: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)”, sponsored by the Global Institute for Advanced Study at NY University Law School, the United Nations University, and Japan’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS).
Previously, he was Deputy Chief Economist at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT, now Global Affairs Canada) with responsibility for economic analysis in support of trade negotiations and trade litigation, and served as contributing editor of DFAIT’s Trade Policy Research series (2001-2007 & 2010 editions). Prior positions with DFAIT include deputy to the Chair of the APEC Economic Committee and Finance Counsellor at Canada's Embassy in Germany. Before joining DFAIT, he worked at the Department of Finance, including from 1983-1990 with the Financial Sector Policy Branch where he served as Chief of the Financial Institutions Section and Project Director, Financial Institutions Reform Project, and chaired the Inter-Departmental Legislative Review Committee, which guided the development of the 1992 reforms that overhauled the federal financial institutions statutes (the Bank Act, the Insurance Companies Act, the Trust and Loan Companies Act and the Cooperative Credit Associations Act). Prior to joining Canada’s Public Service, he studied at McMaster University in Hamilton (Masters in Economics in 1977).
CETA, the TPP, and Professional Advocacy on Trade Agreements
The other day, Canada and the EU announced amendments to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), introducing a new investment tribunal to hear investor-state disputes. The new approach was developed within the EU in response to strong resistance to the conventional investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) measures in the EU’s prior trade agreements. The internal EU resistance had threatened to scupper the CETA and possibly other agreements that the European Commission was negotiating.
On the face of it, the new measures respond to many of the sharp critiques of ISDS that had emerged in professional commentary on this highly controversial topic over the years, including the lack of transparency of procedures, the questions surrounding the appointment of arbitration panel members, the lack of a coherent body of case law emerging from the existing mechanisms, and others.
We don’t know yet how well this new system will work, but at first blush it is a significant improvement on what was there before. The likelihood is that this will pave the way for approval of the CETA both by the Canadian and European Parliaments.
The takeaway point is that principled opposition to trade agreements when trade agreements get things wrong is a good thing.
There are lessons from this for Canada’s debate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Multimedia
VIDEO: The Economics of Data: Implications for the Data-driven Economy
March 27, 2018
VIDEO: NAFTA Negotiations: The Data-Driven Economy
November 21, 2017
VIDEO: Dan Ciuriak on the Asymmetries of Freedom to Operate
May 2, 2017
VIDEO: Trade with Trump
January 23, 2017
News and Events
➢ Participated in the Workshop on an Innovation Strategy for Canada, 6-7 April 2016, CIGI, Waterloo, Centre for International Governance Innovation.
➢ Presented on the TPP as negotiated to the C.D. Howe International Economic Policy Council, 30 March 2016.
➢ Dan’s op-ed, “Time to stop praising the TPP and start searching for bugs", appeared in the Globe & Mail, 5 March 2016.
➢ Appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade on the topic of Advantages and Disadvantages for Canada of Multilateral, Regional and Bilateral Trade Agreements, 18 February 2016.
➢ Dan’s op-ed, “Canada’s 21st-century economy poorly served by orthodoxy", appeared in the Globe & Mail, 5 March 2016.
➢ Dan’s commentary on the role of trade missions was featured prominently in Lauren Hauser’s article, Are Canada's high-profile trade missions worth the cost? Published by TVO.org under its Current Affairs series.
➢ Made a presentation on “Macro-Structural Linkages and Business Dynamism: Brief for the OECD 2016 Economic Survey of Canada,” before the OECD Structural Mission to Canada, 19 – 23 October 2015.
➢ Presented on the “Benefits of Trade and Investment Agreements for the Financial Services Sector," C.D. Howe Institute International Economic Policy Council, 18 September 2015.
➢ Presented the study “Province-Level Impacts of Canada’s Trade Agreements: Ontario and the Canada-Korea FTA,” at the Canadian Economics Association, 28 May 2015
➢ Presented the study “Quantifying Mega-regional Spillovers on Excluded Countries,” at the Commonwealth/IISD Conference, Mega-Trading Blocs and the Future of African Trade: Moving from Fragmentation to Inclusive Trade Multilateralism, Nairobi, 26-27 May 201
➢ Presented the study, “CETA as negotiated”, to the European Commission, Brussels, 22 May 2015.
➢ Presented on the topic of “Quantifying Brexit,” at the Open Europe event “Costing Brexit,” London, 21 May 2015.
➢ Presented a study on how India could respond to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other Mega Regional Trade Agreements at the Conference on Changing Global Economic Scenario: Implications for India’s Trade Policy and Make in India Programme Tuesday, 12 May 2015 – Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi-01
➢ The World Economic Forum’s Agenda posted two articles co-authored by Dan Ciuriak. Read more...
➢ Dan’s commentary on Canada’s Public Procurement policies was prominently discussed in The Bottom Line. Read more...
➢ Appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade on the topic of Trade Promotion, 25 March 2015. The Globe and Mail’s Barrie McKenna covered the story in his article “Free trade, maybe, but smaller companies are buried in costs,” G&M, 2 April 2015. Read more...
➢ Presented an E-Brief on Rules of Origin and on "Canadian manufacturing integration in global value chains, exports and innovation" at the C.D. Howe Institute’s International Economic Policy Council, 24 March 2015.
➢ Dan Ciuriak and Daniel Schwanen published an op-ed in the Globe and Mail, 10 February 2015 on the topic of “Free trade with South Korea is here. Are Canadian firms ready?”
➢ Spoke at a Carleton University event sponsored by the Liberal Institute and the Carleton Economics Association on the topic of “Should Canada Adopt Unilateral Free Trade?”, Carleton University, Ottawa, 20 November 2014.
➢ Presented a study on how India could respond to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other Mega Regional Trade Agreements at the Conference on Changing Global Economic Scenario: Implications for India’s Trade Policy and Make in India Programme Tuesday, 12 May 2015 – Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi-01
➢ Spoke to his paper (co-authored with Derk Bienen) “Transplanting Economic Development: Don’t Pick Winners, Buy Losers!” at the Academic Conference held during UNCTAD’s World Investment Forum (WIF), Geneva, 13-16 October. Link.
➢ Dan Ciuriak and Derk Bienen’s recent paper, “Overcoming Low Preference Utilization in PTAs: Presumption of Origin for Small Shipments,” was presented at the Workshop of the European Society for International Law (ESIL) Interest Group on International Economic Law, Vienna, 3 September 2014. Link.
➢ Participated in the panel discussion on “The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Implications for Standards and Market Regulation,” at the conference, Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP): Its Impact on India and Developing Nations, sponsored by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Delhi, 12 August 2014.
➢ Dan Ciuriak and Derk Bienen presented the forthcoming African Development Bank study, “Eastern Africa‘s Manufacturing Sector: Promoting Technology, Productivity and Linkages: Regional Synthesis Report,” at the Dissemination Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya, 18 July 2014.
➢ Participated in a panel discussion, “Implications for Developing Countries of Mega-Regionals,” at the Center for Global Economic Development and International Institute for Sustainable Development Workshop, Washington, D.C., 24 June 2014. Link.
➢ Dan Ciuriak (with John M. Curtis) presented “Trade Policy as Growth, Innovation, and Industrial Policy” at the IRPP Conference, Adapting Canadian Trade and Commerce Policies to New Global Realities, Ottawa, 16-17 June 2014.
➢ Participated at the inaugural discussion of the E-15 Expert Group Meeting on Reinvigorating Manufacturing: New Industrial Policy and the Trade System, Beijing, 30-31 May 2014. Link.
➢ Dan was featured in the Globe and Mail article “Study recommends Canada remove all trade tariffs to boost economy,” 11 May 2014, which discussed his report “Should Canada unilaterally adopt global free trade?” published by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. Link.
➢ Dan’s paper “The Impact of Diplomatic Representation Abroad on Canada’s Exports,” published by the CD Howe Institute, was featured in the iPolitics article “C.D. Howe report: For boosting trade, there’s nothing like an embassy,” 16 April 2014. Link.
➢ Participated in a panel discussion of Nova Scotia’s trade outlook at the conference, “Launch of Nova Scotia’s State of Trade 2013,” Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2 December 2013.
➢ Dan joined Mexico’s Trade Minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, and Mario Cimoli of ECLAC at the Centro de Estudios Económicos del Sector Privado (CEESP) fiftieth anniversary conference, for a panel discussion on manufacturing and reindustrialization of North America, Mexico City, 17 October 2013.
