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By Jason Fekete

HONOLULU — Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Sunday Canada will apply to join a new free trade agreement with the United States and the Asia-Pacific region, and suggested that Canada’s farm supply management systems could be on the table for negotiation.

Mr. Harper also said Canada will look further into selling its oil and gas to Asian countries due to U.S. delays in approving the Keystone XL pipeline.

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The prime minister held a key 25-minute tete-a-tete with U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday over lunch, on the fringes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Honolulu, which wrapped up a few hours later.They’ve agreed to meet again in Washington in early December, when it’s believed the leaders might finally announce details of the Beyond the Border security and trade initiative, which Harper said is on the agenda.

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A handful of countries in the TPP negotiations — including possibly New Zealand and the United States — have been resisting Canada’s entry into the group because of the Canadian supply management system that protects fewer than 20,000 dairy and poultry farmers behind a tariff wall and hands them production quotas.