Here is my recent BNN interview of what seems to be looming for Canada in international trade with the Trump presidency likely to take a nationalistic and protectionist approach, not only regarding the ill-fated Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement but also in bilateral matters under the NAFTA. http://bit.ly/2fxxbaQ
As we try to come to grips with all the implications of the Trump ascendency, there are some important points for Canada to contemplate when it comes to bilateral trade matters. First, Trump will move quickly to demand re-negotiation of the NAFTA and while his acrimony is focused on Mexico, as a trilateral agreement Canada… Read More »
The investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) part of the CETA is the focus of Wallonia’s objections to the deal. We can actually solve that roadblock. ISDS was never a sine qua non for Canada. We replicated the NAFTA model (making some later improvements) without any real thought or analysis of whether the Canadian investment community saw ISDS as… Read More »
There was a most unfortunate development in October 2016 preventing the European side from approving the Canada-EU trade agreement, formally known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). On 24 October, tiny Wallonia refused to allow Belgium to agree to the CETA, resulting in a cancellation of the planned treaty signature the same week… Read More »
Here is the link to a commentary of mine in the Globe & Mail Report on Business, 27 September 2016. It was written following the first presidential debate. http://bit.ly/2cKBfph In it, I say Canadians must not be naive to think our trade relations will be all sweetness and light under a Democratic administration. The protectionist mood… Read More »
Together with the 2016 Trade Remedies Primer, we’ve prepared a basic outline of Canada’s Export Controls and Economic Sanctions, to explain in clear and, hopefully, in non-legalistic terms how the system works. Like the trade remedies companion piece, it’s boiled down to the main ingredients. To get the primer, just click on the link below.… Read More »
My commentary in the 23 August 2016 edition of the Globe & Mail’s Report on Business suggests – from all the signals coming out of Washington – that the likelihood of US approval of the TPP Agreement is fading. See it here: http://bit.ly/2bM3DpD There may be a glimmer of hope but with key Congressional leaders… Read More »
Clients and friends of the firm have asked for a basic outline of the Canadian trade remedy system – meaning all about anti-dumping and countervailing duties. Here is that outline as a kind of primer, written in what I hope is plain English and with as little legal jargon as possible. Just click on the… Read More »
The World Energy Council (WEC) has a group of experts that examines trade and investment issues of significance to the energy industry, focusing on ways to reduce barriers to trade and investment in the sector. I’ve been a part of this group for a decade. Its most recent effort is a report on ways to… Read More »
Comments have been made in some quarters about the recently-announced 15% tax imposed by the BC government on non-resident purchases of residential property to the effect the measure might offend Canada’s obligations under the NAFTA. These come as a surprise, since few would have thought that an internal measure like this would even remotely involve… Read More »