It’s increasingly difficult to get a handle on where U.S. trade policy is going at any particular time. The latest twist concerns ratification of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (called CUSMA in Canada and USMCA in the United States because U.S. President Donald Trump hates the word “NAFTA”).
All three countries have passed internal legislation approving and implementing the agreement. But CUSMA only becomes legally binding 60 days after official ratification notices are exchanged by the three governments. Last week, Canada provided its notice. Mexico did the same a bit earlier. So far, there’s nothing from the American side. It’s not entirely clear why the U.S. is now holding things up. Media outlets in Washington are unable to…
L’urgence n’est pas que médicale. Les gouvernements multiplient les mesures radicales pour stopper – coûte que coûte – l’hémorragie économique.
Les gouvernements devaient mettre de grands pans de l’économie sur pause pour freiner la pandémie. Mais depuis, les revenus se tarissent. Sans une importante transfusion d’argent, des entreprises feront faillite, des familles vivront des drames.
D’abord stabiliser le patient. Si on veut que l’économie reprenne après la pandémie, il faudra bien sûr que les entreprises survivent. L’enjeu à court terme : limiter le plus possible la destruction des capacités de production de l’économie. On s’occupera plus tard de relancer la demande.
Dans ses…
There’s hardly a glimmer of sunshine in the COVID-19 crisis, just a constant stream of horribly depressing news and worrying statistics, with no vaccine or antiviral breakthrough in sight.
The skies darkened even further on Friday, when U.S. President Donald Trump suddenly announced a set of trade restrictions under a Korean-War-era law, prohibiting U.S. exports of medical supplies including surgical face masks made by Minnesota-based 3M Corp. The order specifically bans exports to Canada.
It comes at the same time Canada and the United States just entered into a free trade agreement that says in its preamble that it was concluded in recognition of “the longstanding friendship between them and their peoples, and the strong…
