Korea comes calling
Like a stage performer spinning plates on sticks while each threatens to drop off and crash, Prime Minister Mark Carney must juggle a complex mix of domestic and international issues.
He faces three key international challenges. First, he must manage the famously mercurial occupant of the Oval Office to limit the damage to Canada’s economy and security. This will be the highest priority as Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement negotiations intensify.
Second, he must preserve our ability to rebuild a relationship with our neighbour once U.S. President Donald Trump is gone. We won’t return to how things were before, but we can at least restore some element of normalcy.
The third task is to help Canada become genuinely independent by building relationships with like-minded countries. That extends well beyond risk-mitigation to making us both stronger and more prosperous.
Carney recently highlighted the paradox facing middle powers: because they lack the hegemonic clout to force compliance, they must rely entirely on the rule of law and resilient alliances. None of us can do it alone, and the coalitions needed won’t build themselves. They will take a shared, focused effort.
Canada’s obvious partners are the industrialized democracies that share our values. We already have strong and well-established relationships across the Atlantic with partners like Britain, the European Union, and Scandinavia, but some of the greatest opportunities lie in the Pacific.
South Korea, with a population about 25 per cent larger than Canada’s, should be near the top of our list. It is located in one of the world’s toughest neighbourhoods and, like Japan, it is both a solid democracy and an industrial powerhouse. Both countries are remarkable examples of nations that transformed their societies and their economies through force of will.
Korea’s democracy was tested in 2024 when its president imposed martial law. Its democratic institutions held fast. The order was lifted, and the president was impeached and charged with insurrection. He now faces life in prison. It would be hard to find more concrete proof of a country’s commitment to democracy.
Modern Korea may be defined in Canadian minds by our TV sets or cellphones, and by the K-Pop and Korean movies that have won global recognition, but our historical ties—including Canada’s military support for Korea’s survival three-quarters of a century ago—run deep. Yet, despite our shared history and our economies’ complementarity, we are barely scratching the surface of what we can do together.
Korea is the world’s 13th largest economy. We’ve had a free trade agreement with it for more than a decade, and last year it was Canada’s 12th largest foreign investor. The NextStar Energy battery facility in Windsor, Ont., which currently employs about 1,300 people and has plans to grow its workforce to 2,500, illustrates the benefit.
Korea is already an important customer for Canadian products, from resources to agriculture and aerospace, with the potential to grow much larger still.
Korea is also the world’s third-largest energy importer, much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It needs stable and reliable suppliers, making it a natural partner. The first shipments of Canadian LNG to Korea in 2025, as well as increased crude exports through the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, demonstrate this potential. Korea’s advanced refining and processing technologies, paired with Canada’s abundant natural resources, can create powerful synergies.
While we currently supply only a tiny percentage of Korea’s oil and LNG, last week Korea announced plans to triple its Canadian oil imports, which would make it our third-largest foreign market for oil. It is also heavily invested in Canadian LNG with plans to increase both its investment and its imports from this country.
Canada can gain greatly from a stronger partnership with Korea, which has one of the most advanced and successful manufacturing sectors in the world. As part of Korea’s bid to supply the Canadian Navy with its next generation of submarines, it has offered not only major new investments in Canada, but also the opportunity to partner in producing products we can send to other markets.
When Canada entered into the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1988, Ottawa saw it as a first step to becoming a global export powerhouse. However, the proximity of the U.S. and the cultural, legal, and economic similarities between our two countries proved so seductive that we never became truly global.
We no longer have the luxury of keeping all our eggs in the American basket. As we focus on building new relationships with the other industrialized democracies, Korea offers a very promising place to start.
Perrin Beatty is a former Canadian foreign minister and a past president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He is co-chair of the Canada-Korea Forum.
The Hill Times