Canada trade talks end in deadlock, to resume next week

Farm income has dropped nearly 7 percent this year.

“Ultimately, we’ve got huge issues that are still to be resolved”, said Jerry Dias, head of Canada’s influential Unifor labor union.

Another compromise regards the so-called “sunset clause”.

Canadian and US officials say the path to a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement is opening up, and could come together this week.

As the president was talking in North Carolina at an event, he said if a deal doesn’t come about with Canada, ‘We’ll just have to tariff those cars coming in.

One sticking point for Canada is the US effort to dump the Chapter 19 dispute-resolution mechanism that hinders the United States from pursuing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases. They would also need to have 40 percent to 45 percent of content made in factories where workers are paid at least $16 an hour. However, many economists believe that Nafta has been a positive thing for the US, Canada and Mexico. Changes to NAFTA would require congressional approval before taking effect.

“In short, this agreement is a great deal for the American people”. All these measures will be a boom to the US auto industry and certain commodity producers (i.e., steel and aluminum companies), but USA consumers will end up paying the price because higher input costs mean higher sticker prices for cars.

Another flaw is about the worldwide tribunals.

– Dispute settlement: NAFTA contains three mechanisms for settling disputes.

Trump has long decried the original version of NAFTA, which was established in 1994, as unbalanced and unfair to US interests.

The dispute between US and Canada reportedly hinges on agricultural and media protection polices, as well as the installation of a system by which any of the three countries can challenge tariffs imposed by one of the others, the Wall Street Journal reported.

So why did stock markets surge Monday despite an imperfect deal?

But the question that looms over this whole debate-with its trade-law nuances and political imponderables-is if Trump has ever really wanted to modernize NAFTA.

The new agreement would take over for NAFTA, the landmark pact reached in 1994. -Canada negotiations had initially generated hopeful signals from both camps that a deal could be struck by the end of the week – but hard discussions about dairy and dispute settlement persisted. But Canada is no Mexico. Those include Canadian agricultural subsidies and dispute settlement panels that Ottawa wants to preserve but which the USA and Mexico agreed to curtail.

– Pharmaceuticals: U.S. trade policy states that other countries should contribute more to the hefty costs of research and development by paying more for pharmaceuticals.

Just as he was wrapping, the USTR’s office released a statement that said the US was submitting a formal notice to Congress, as required 90 days before a deal can be signed, that it has a deal with Mexico that Canada could later join. “This is a system that works not only for producers, but consumers in Canada as well”, Trudeau said, adding the Americans subsidize their sector heavily.

The Trump administration is running up against a key deadline.

Once text has been provided, Congress has 60 days to consider it.

In August, Trump threatened Canada with auto tariffs if the US and Canada can’t forge a deal.

The White House now has 30 days before it must present the full text of the new agreement to Congress, which will give Ottawa and Washington time to iron out remaining differences.