This is a commentary in the Report on Business on the recently-announced US-China trade deal, a short-term arrangement that, in my view, is contrary to the non-discrimination (MFN) rules in the WTO Agreement. It’s a purely two-way deal that favours US businesses to the prejudice of other WTO members. US China Trade Deal Comment 23 January… Read More »
This commentary, published by the C. D. Howe Institute, deals with investor claims under NAFTA Chapter 11 and assesses Canada’s win-loss record over the past 25 years. These arbitrations are coming to an end under the new NAFTA – or CUSMA as it’s called in Canada. I say that’s a welcome development. NAFTA Investment Disputes-Bringing… Read More »
Here is a commentary in the Globe and Mail, 4 March 2019, on the latest investment dispute panel decision in the Clayton-Bilcon case and the fact that these arbitrations are ending under the new NAFTA – the USMCA or CUSMA as Canada calls it. Overall, Canada has been targeted many more times than Mexico by… Read More »
GLOBE & MAIL 31 May 2018 LAWRENCE L. HERMAN © 2018 Former Canadian diplomat, practices international trade law at Herman & Associates and is a Senior Fellow of the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto. The Trump administration’s announcement of punitive tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum yesterday means we’re into a full-blown economic and… Read More »
Here are some comments on the various possibilities for Canada-US trade relations as we move into 2018, overlain with the threat of Mr. Trump terminating US adherence to the NAFTA. Regarding the resurrection of the 1988 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), it’s true it remains suspended but not terminated as a bilateral treaty. It could… Read More »
An op-ed piece of mine in the Globe and Mail Report on Business, outlined the implications of the USTR’s statement of the Trump administration’s NAFTA renegotiations and Canada’s possible response. CANADA WILL HAVE TO PLAY HARDBALL on US NAFTA DEMANDS Globe and Mail, 17 July 2017 LAWRENCE L. HERMAN © 2017 So we now know… Read More »
Here is a memo on the various Canada-US trade issues as we move through 2017. The critical matter is the impending NAFTA re-negotiations. This memo provides a summary review of the challenges Canada faces. https://hermancorp.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Canada-and-the-American-Challenge-April-2017.pdf
I wrote an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail in January 2017, saying that a possible approach for Canada is to look beyond NAFTA as a three-way agreement and to consider a NEW BILATERAL TRADE DEAL with the US. Given the problems in resolving Trump’s concerns over Mexico within the NAFTA as it is… Read More »
“You’re going to pay a very large border tax”. That’s what President-elect Trump said at his January 11 news conference (if it can be called that) about US companies that manufacture abroad, repeating statements he repeatedly made on the campaign trail. It seems fair to predict this blustering will become actual US policy post January… Read More »
With Mr. Trump’s election as president, every carefully orchestrated American policy (like China and Taiwan) and every nuanced and finely negotiated treaty (like the Iran nuclear deal) is up for grabs. That is equally true for trade agreements like the NAFTA, repeatedly slammed by Mr. Trump as the worst deal every signed by the United… Read More »