15 Quotes from Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau at the APEC CEO Summit 2024
Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau spoke about the importance of inclusive trade deals that protect human rights, labor and the environment. According to the prime minister, Canada's approach to trade has been to ensure win-win scenarios, which has led to significant trade agreements. He further highlighted the need for AI governance and the potential of AI to transform economies, while addressing concerns about energy consumption. Prime Minister Trudeau further underscored the importance of long-term planning and global cooperation to ensure economic growth benefits all, particularly in the context of AI and energy needs. Here are 16 quotes from a fireside chat in which he participated at the 2024 APEC CEO Summit.
On ensuring an inclusive trade and growth
1. “We have to remind ourselves two things about trade: trade creates growth, but nothing guarantees that trade that creates growth is going to make sure that the growth is well shared.”
2. “We have to focus on making an argument for trade and for the growth that it comes from by making sure that everyone can participate in the benefits of that growth. That's where making sure that we're negotiating free trade deals that protect women's rights, that protect labor rights, that protect the environment, that work with Indigenous Peoples.”
3. “If trade creates growth, it creates enough growth to be able to have ‘win-win’ in any trade negotiation out there.”
4. “Business communities, like governments, like people around the world, should be focused on making sure that the growth and the benefits that come from increased ties around the world are actually shared more generally—with women, with workers, with environmental protections because that's one of the only ways of ensuring the kind of stability and predictability that we've had that the world has benefited from over the past decades.”
On AI and global framework
5. “There's a lot of things that we're doing around creating that right balance around AI that's going to both make sure that AI is not used for evil purposes as much as we possibly can.”
6. “But more importantly, make sure that AI is actually there to empower everyone. We have to make sure there's a framework that the whole world—or at least the democratic world— that is aligned in its values, is working on to make sure that it's going to be effective.”
7. “Pushing for AI is something that Canada has been able to do and will do and continue doing in responsible ways.”
8. “I'm looking forward to seeing a high level of uptake in our small and medium sized businesses across Canada around AI as we do more investments.”
9. “AI is going to transform our economies, transform our world: the way the development of electricity did hundreds of years ago. It will touch every single job, everything we all do within five to 10 years. It is coming. It is inevitable.”
On AI and energy consumption
10. “The biggest limiting factor on AI is actually going to be power—the energy consumption necessary around AI nobody has properly understood yet, and that's the one that I've been really, really obsessing about lately.”
11. “Canada already is an 80 percent clean energy grid. It's a huge advantage.”
12. “As we look at how to develop the necessary clean power to power AI, not just in Canada but around the world, we're stepping up. We've actually stepped-up big time on nuclear.”
13. “You can't talk about AI without talking about the power necessary to generate it. One of the biggest inequalities that still exists is the fact that something like 40 percent of people living on the African continent don't yet have reliable, steady access to electricity.”
On investments and economic opportunities
14. “It takes governments to invest in the kinds of infrastructure and the kind of long-term vision that is necessary for investments as businesses, but also for citizens in a time of uncertainty and upheaval everywhere around the world; to feel confident that there's a plan that's going to meet the future in where it's going, and not just wish it were different or hope that it was like it was in the past.”
15. “It's about understanding that the only way to do the right thing in an economic sense is to make sure that everyone feels like there is a path for them, their family and their community to be successful in the coming years.”