Dealing with Dictators
Canada doesn’t need a US-style Magnitsky Act to deal with putative dictators like Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe or others. We could easily deal with Maduro or any situation involving the trampling of basic human rights and democratic principles with a few tweaks to the Special Economic Measures… Read More »
Canada’s NAFTA Strategies – Play Hardball
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 »
NAFTA – Everyone’s Chattering
There’s no end to the advice – well-intended on not – that Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and her team are getting from NAFTA experts and non-experts, far and wide. Interest and engagement over NAFTA and other trade issues amongst Canadians these days thanks to Mr. Trump is probably unprecedented. But one has feel sympathy… Read More »
NAFTA and Beyond – Canadian Trade Strategies
As Canada enters the difficult and contentious NAFTA negotiations with the US, here are some thoughts in a Globe and Mail op-ed piece on some elements for Canada’s overall trade strategies, not forgetting either the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (which has been signed by all countries, even the US) and the World Trade Organization Agreement, where… Read More »
NAFTA Negotiations – Alternative Ways to Settle Disputes
Here is a short piece published by the C. D. Howe Institute, 24 May 2017, suggesting some options for Canada in NAFTA negotiations if the US demands removal of the existing binational panel system (in Chapter 19) for dumping and subsidy cases. While not advocating that Canada should give in, the article suggests how State-to-State… Read More »
Softwood Lumber Redux
Canada and the American Challenge
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
NAFTA Negotiations – Who’s In Charge In Washington?
Notwithstanding Mr. Trump’s claims that NAFTA is a disaster for the US and his priority to re-negotiate the treaty, things are not moving as planned in Washington for many reasons. I wrote an opinion piece for the Globe and Mail, 11 April 2017, on the subject, which can be viewed here. https://tgam.ca/2nWNCko