Dairy products are on the table as Canada scrambles over trade talks
Canada is considering making concessions as part of last-ditch efforts to save a trilateral trade deal with the United States and Mexico.
If Canada does not sign up to a reformed North American Free Trade Agreement by tomorrow, the White House has said it will continue with its own bilateral deal with Mexico, which President Trump has championed as a “big hit”, claiming that it would bring scores of companies back to America.
Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian foreign affairs minister, said that she had been working since the early hours yesterday as she prepared to meet Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative. Ms Freeland, who ended a trip to Europe early this week to go to Washington, said: “We are optimistic about having some productive conversations this week.”
The Canadian government is said to be prepared to make key concessions concerning the dairy market. In an attempt to dodge more stringent pharmaceutical patent protections, to ensure the future of a key dispute settlement system and to safeguard its television and radio industries, the Toronto-based Globe and Mailnewspaper reported that officials were willing to change a rule that effectively had prevented American farmers from exporting ultrafiltered milk.
Nafta is a trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico that came into effect in 1994. It has faced an uncertain future after fierce criticism from Mr Trump, who said that it had damaged the US economy by sending jobs overseas, particularly in car manufacturing.
Nafta underpins Canada’s $673 billion trade relationship with the US. According to one projection by Scotiabank this year, the country’s GDP would shrink by 1.8 per cent if the US imposed average trade tariffs of 20 per cent across the board.
Ms Freeland said that Mexico’s “difficult” concessions over Nafta would be important for American and Canadian workers and would pave the way for her talks. Mr Trump has threatened to hit Canadian-made cars with steep tariffs if a breakthrough does not materialise.
It has emerged that the planned deal with Mexico would allow the US to cap exports of cars, light trucks and automotive parts. Reuters said that the deal would enable America to impose punitive tariffs of up to 25 per cent on vehicles if Mexico breached a quota of 2.4 million.
As he prepares to seek approval from Congress, Mr Trump has been selling his proposed reforms on Twitter. “Our new Trade Deal with Mexico focuses on farmers, growth for our country, tearing down trade barriers, jobs and having companies continue to pour back into our country,” he wrote. “It will be a big hit!”
As the US continued to stand by the tariffs on steel and aluminium that it introduced this year, it lodged a complaint at the World Trade Organisation yesterday over Russian retaliation.
• Trade between the world’s biggest economies contracted in the second quarter of this year, ending a period of growth that had run since mid-2016 (Tom Knowles writes). Total exports fell by 0.6 per cent to $3.74 trillion, while imports fell by 0.9 per cent to $3.79 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
It attributed the fall to several currencies weakening against the dollar. It noted the drop of 18 per cent in the Argentine peso, 15 per cent in the Turkish lira and 11 per cent in the Brazilian real.
The contraction in exports was most pronounced in Argentina, where they fell by 20 per cent, Brazil, by 9 per cent, and Britain, by 7 per cent in US dollar terms. Imports fell most steeply in Turkey, by 9 per cent, and Brazil, by 7 per cent.
No comments:
Post a Comment