Konrad von Finckenstein – How we can save NAFTA’s Chapter 19
From: Konrad von Finckenstein To: The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Global Affairs Date: August 1, 2017 Re: How we can save NAFTA’s Chapter 19 The summary of objectives for NAFTA renegotiation issued by the US Trade Representative on July 17 is blunt: “Eliminate the Chapter 19 dispute settlement mechanism.” It is worthwhile to recall that in the original […]Christopher Sands – The US NAFTA Agenda
From: Christopher Sands To: Concerned Canadians Date: July 18, 2017 Re: The US NAFTA Agenda Late yesterday, the US Trade Representative, in keeping with the requirements of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (TPA-2015) published 16 pages summarizing the United States’ objectives for the renegotiation of NAFTA. A preliminary analysis by […]Canada will have to play hardball at NAFTA talks: Globe and Mail Op-ed
So we now know what the U.S. objectives are in the forthcoming North American free-trade agreement renegotiations.
Some of what was sent by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to the Congress on Monday isn’t a big surprise, having been signalled before and in its initial fast-track notice tabled in Congress last May.
There’s a lot about modernizing NAFTA, improving the agreement to add provisions on trade in services, digital commerce, intellectual property and even reference to establishing “strong and enforceable environmental obligations” and other things that, subject to careful reading, could be acceptable as a basis for negotiations.
However, there are at least four major bombshells, signalling an…
Daniel Schwanen – A Big Day for NAFTA
From: Daniel Schwanen To: Concerned Canadians Date: July 17, 2017 Re: A big day for NAFTA Today the United States publicly releases its specific objectives for a renegotiated NAFTA. The importance for Canada of this impending negotiation for Canadian jobs and incomes can hardly be overstated. Going back decades, but especially since the 1965 Auto […]Dan Ciuriak on BNN – U.S. demands for free flow of data could put privacy at risk
Dan Ciuriak, director and principal at Ciuriak Consulting & Fellow-in-Residence with the C.D. Howe Institute, talks to BNN about what the U.S. is likely to demand when it sets out formal objectives for NAFTA talks.
Sands and MacKenzie – New Rules for NAFTA
From: Christopher Sands and Colin MacKenzie To: Concerned Canadians Date: July 13, 2017 Re: New Rules for NAFTA As renegotiation on the North American Free Trade Agreement gets underway there is one fundamental change on the US side that promises to change the dynamic. This time there are 535 extra chefs in the kitchen. Under […]Table Stakes: Congress Will Be Sitting across from Canada at the NAFTA 2.0 Negotiations
A newly empowered US Congress will be holding the reins in the upcoming NAFTA talks, states a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Table Stakes: Congress Will be Sitting across from Canada at the NAFTA 2.0 Negotiations,” author Christopher Sands finds that since Congress has redefined the US negotiating process under 2015 legislation, […] Christopher Sands on BNN – Canada’s charm offensive ahead of NAFTA renegotiations
Christopher Sands, director of the Center for Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins University joins BNN to talk about Canada turning to individual U.S. states ahead of NAFTA talks.
Jon Johnson – NAFTA Rules of Origin Need a Dose of Uniform Regulation
From: Jon Johnson To: The Honourable Ministers of International Trade, and Foreign Affairs Date: June 29, 2017 Re: NAFTA Rules of Origin Need a Dose of Uniform Regulation Antidumping, countervailing actions, steel investigations, supply management regimes; these all make for great sound bites. In contrast, the technicalities of rules of origin that determine which goods […]Rick Ekstein – Softwood Lumber and the Forgotten Value-Added Sector
To: The Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs From: Rick Ekstein Date: June 19, 2017 Re: Softwood Lumber and the Forgotten Value-Added Sector There has been much press lately about the Canada-US Softwood Lumber dispute. The US position has always been that Canada’s provincial governments, which own the majority of our forests, price their […]Canada’s Trade Policy Must Focus On Nafta – And Also Far Beyond: Globe And Mail Op-ed
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland’s House of Commons speech last week signalled a new direction in Canadian foreign policy. In doing so, the Canadian government has to be sharply focused on dealing with Washington, navigating Donald Trump’s protectionist view of the world and the impending NAFTA negotiations.
Those negotiations will be challenging, once the U.S. Congress clears the administration’s fast-track approval and the Trump team presents Canada and Mexico with its demands, likely in August.
Unlike the 1980s and 1990s when the United States had strategic interests in showing the world that it could reach accommodation with its North American partners, this time we have an “America First” president with no…