Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced the federal government will seek membership in the bloc at a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ottawa on Thursday afternoon. (The Logic)

Talking point: The Biden administration announced the IPEF in May. The 14-country bloc is negotiating cross-border data rules, standards for emerging technologies, and cleantech incentives, among other measures. At the time, the Liberal government downplayed the importance of joining IPEF In a May statement to The Logic, Joly’s press secretary Adrien Blanchard cited Canada’s membership in the U.S.-less CPTPP, and recently launched negotiations with India, Indonesia and ASEAN. Those deals and existing ones would cover commerce with every IPEF member except Fiji, but Canadian business groups have argued for participating anyway, because the new group will set key trade rules. Five months later, Ottawa now wants in. But ascension isn’t guaranteed. “It’s not a decision the United States can make unilaterally,” Blinken said, adding that the U.S. will support Canada’s bid.