Premier Kathleen Wynne is warning the trade deal Prime Minister Stephen Harper is about to sign with South Korea could be a double-edged sword for Ontario.

With Harper in Seoul to sign the historic accord Tuesday, Wynne was asked about the concerns of Canada’s most populous province.

“We are very supportive of opening up opportunities for Ontario and Canadian business. In terms of the agri-food sector, we are very optimistic about the opportunities that a Canada-Korea deal might provide,” the premier told reporters Monday at a cheese factory in St. Albert, near Ottawa.

But mindful of 93,000 auto manufacturing jobs in the province — and hundreds of thousands of ancillary positions — Wynne expressed unease at aspects of the deal.

“We do have reservations about the auto sector and our Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Employment Eric Hoskins has been very clear with the federal government and has been working on making sure that the appropriate protections are in place,” she said.

“So we are of two minds, we are optimistic and at the same time we are cautious on the auto sector. We will be looking for the appropriate protections and framework around the auto sector.”

Sources familiar with the accord told the Star that Ottawa’s deal with Seoul does not boast all the protections for the auto sector that the industry and the Ontario government demanded.

Queen’s Park and General Motors Canada, Ford of Canada, and Chrysler Canada wanted an arrangement virtually identical to the 2012 U.S.-Korea trade deal.

They sought a lengthy five to seven-year phase-in to allow for the Ontario-based industry to adapt to the new marketplace realities and a “snap-back” condition so that tariffs could be slapped on South Korean vehicles if Seoul imposes any “non-tariff” barriers on Canadian products.

But Ottawa failed to get such provisos in the deal — as Washington did in its agreement with South Korea two years ago.

Even so, Detroit-based manufacturers are complaining of non-tariff barriers — related to vehicle standards and regulations — that hinder them in South Korea.

Insiders confided that Harper’s government was able to get assurances that South Korean automakers, such as Hyundai and Kia, which already sell extensively here, would not be able to flood the market.

Unlike the recent Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union, Ontario did not have a seat at the table in the nine-year Korean negotiations.

The latest deal will be Canada’s first trade liberalization agreement with an Asia-Pacific country and is expected to provide an opening to the region for Canadian exporters hoping to take advantage of the fast-growing economies there.

It also adds momentum to the Harper government’s economic strategy, which is linked to expanding trade beyond the United States, long the main market for Canadian exports. Ottawa is also working toward free-trade agreements with Japan and through the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations with 11 other Pacific Rim countries.

International Trade Minister Ed Fast has been stressing the importance of the Korean pact for Canadian companies.

“We need to make sure that Canadian businesses have a level playing field upon which they do business, and as you probably know, our exports to Korea have declined quite precipitously since the Americans and the Europeans got their trade agreements with Korea,” Fast told CTV on Sunday.

“So we’re looking to level the playing field, make sure that our businesses can compete fairly with some of our biggest competitors.”

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Canadians exports to South Korea have dropped by $1.5 billion — or about one-third — since the Korea-U.S. free-trade agreement was signed several years ago, according to the federal government. A deal with Korea should help Canada’s agricultural sectors, particularly pork and beef producers as well as makers of ice wine.

Officials say will take a year for the two governments to finalize the trade pact and put it into effect.

With that in mind, Wynne’s government is expected to ask for a task force of federal, provincial, and auto industry officials to improve the deal, much as the Americans were able to do before their accord was finalized.

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