International USMCA: Congress Ratified New & Improved Trade Deal To Replace NAFTA

JSnake said:
Apparently there is, since they called him to negotiate.

Perhaps you should call your president and tell them to cancel.
Click to expand...

They called him to negotiate NAFTA only. The wall isnt part of the negotiations.
 
I mean ya

he also approved the Keystone XL pipeline, of which NAFTA is kinda big deal in keeping it operational

same w/ say the Silicone Border in Mexico
 
He's said he wanted to renegotiate nafta since the election. I'm not sure whats new here.

This is exactly how deals are made. You play hardball at first and then negotiate.
 
GoyimWhoKnows said:
That's the art of the deal. Threaten to do away with NAFTA, and then wait for them to call you back willing to negotiate a better deal.

Trump is playing 6d watercheckers here.
Click to expand...
This guy beat me to it.
 
Donald Trump tells Justin Trudeau he won’t terminate NAFTA, renegotiation agreed upon
By Jill Colvin The Associated Press

​



U.S. President Donald Trump swore off plans to cancel the North American Free Trade Agreement on Wednesday, after a day rife with speculation that he could be on the verge of threatening to obliterate the seminal trade deal.

The president made the announcement at the end of a dramatic day following an evening phone chat Wednesday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, followed by another call with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Trump sounded satisfied that his peers had agreed to negotiate swiftly. This has been a top concern of Trump’s administration, which has expressed frustration over the pace.

Trump’s key campaign promise to renegotiate NAFTA is up against the clock: U.S. Congress has yet to sign off on negotiations, and there might be less than a year to get a deal before the Mexican election.

“Both conversations were pleasant and productive,” said a late-night statement from the White House.

“President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries.”





Throughout the day, the White House had been telling U.S. media it was mulling a notice of withdrawal from NAFTA. It was seen as a dose of shock treatment for Congress, Canada, and Mexico to get cracking under the threat the deal might be cancelled.

Markets appeared jolted by the sudden drama. The Canadian dollar lost more than a third of a cent Wednesday and the Mexican peso got hit harder: it was down more than 1.5 per cent on the day.

Various media said Trump was considering detonating the trade equivalent of a nuclear option – an executive order to withdraw from the trade agreement, which would instill fear in members of Congress, industry and Canadian and Mexican trade negotiators.

The administration had been complaining that American lawmakers were dragging their feet. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have not only delayed confirmation of Trump’s trade nominee but also withheld approval of the formal notice to kick off negotiations.

Trump wants movement.

The White House let it be known earlier in the day, through the Washington Post, Politico, and CNN, that Trump was considering an executive order threatening withdrawal, and the New York Times reported late Wednesday that he was actually leaning toward issuing that order.

Such a move would have been dramatic, but not necessarily fatal to NAFTA.

A veteran of Canada-U.S. free trade said there are multiple layers between an announcement and an actual withdrawal. He asked: Even if Trump announced a possible withdrawal, would he actually he follow through? And if he followed through, would Congress undo tariffs, and other things in NAFTA’s implementing legislation?

One thing’s certain, he said: the move would scare people.

“It would be a nothing. But it would be inflammatory,” said Jon Johnson, a negotiator in the original Canada-U.S. trade agreement, a government adviser on NAFTA and now a C.D. Howe Institute analyst.

“I suspect many in the press would freak. I would.”

He pointed out that NAFTA does not have an automatic-exit clause.

Its only reference to withdrawal is a single 34-word sentence, Article 2205, which says: A party may withdraw after providing six months’ written notice, which means that any president declaring a pullout would simply be allowed to do it six months later.

What a withdrawal threat could do is frighten multiple actors, he said.

There were certainly jitters in Congress. Pro-NAFTA senators urged Trump to be careful. The Republican majority whip, Sen. John Cornyn, warned: “I think we’d better be careful about unintended consequences.” Sen. John McCain told CNN, of a NAFTA withdrawal: “It will devastate the economy in my state … I hope he doesn’t do that.”

One trade expert said he viewed this as a negotiating tactic – a threat to Congress.

“I think he is bluffing,” Canada-U.S. trade lawyer Mark Warner said earlier Wednesday.

“I think by threatening a nuclear option he is hoping to get Congress to speed up . . . (and) stop getting in way. If there is an executive order, it’s probably more likely to be weaker than his rhetoric.”

The White House had expressed frustration at lawmakers’ failure to share its sense of urgency on NAFTA.

The clock is ticking, in part because of the Mexican election. The Mexican government says it can’t conclude a NAFTA deal after the first quarter of next year, with an election in 15 months and the populist left on the move there.

Trump’s point man on the negotiation, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, has acknowledged that it gets harder if talks linger too much into next year. Which means the next few months might be the only window to renegotiate NAFTA – a key Trump campaign promise.

By law, the U.S. Congress must be involved at multiple steps: in approving a formal notice to renegotiate, in developing the negotiating positions, and then in voting to ratify a deal.

“It’s been frustratingly slow,” Ross said earlier this month, of Congress. “They’ve been very, very slow on completing the hearings and voting on our new U.S. trade representative Bob Lighthizer. That’s been not helpful.”
Click to expand...


http://globalnews.ca/news/3408072/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-nafta/
 
Last edited:
U.S. imposes preliminary duties up to 24% on 'subsidized' Canadian softwood lumber
Cabinet ministers call countervailing duties 'baseless and unfounded'
By Janyce McGregor | Apr 25, 2017

quesnel-lumber-mill.jpg

Canadian softwood lumber exports to the United States will be hit with countervailing duties of up to 24 per cent starting next week. ​

Canada's forest industry felt the slap of the countervailing duties they were bracing for late Monday, with confirmation out of Washington that a U.S. Commerce Department investigation has once again concluded that softwood lumber imports are unfairly subsidized.

Canadian lumber imports are expected to face new duties ranging from three to 24 per cent, starting next week.

Countervailing duties are used to level the playing field when a country believes that another country's product is unfairly subsidized.

The U.S. lumber industry has argued for decades that because most Canadian timber is harvested on Crown lands, the way provincial governments manage and set prices for these harvests results in cheaper lumber.

"Today's ruling confirms that Canadian lumber mills are subsidized by their government and benefit from timber pricing policies and other subsidies which harm U.S. manufacturers and workers" said Cameron Krauss, the legal chair of the U.S. Lumber Coalition and a senior vice-president of Oregon's Seneca Sawmill, in a release.

"Left unchecked, Canadian non-market based trade practices would yield ever increasing market share for Canadian product, displacing U.S. producers, workers, and landowners, and even allowing Canadian mills to take over U.S. assets," the U.S. Lumber Coalition said in its release late Monday.

"Border measures against subsidized and dumped Canadian lumber imports are essential — otherwise differences between the U.S. mostly private and Canadian mostly public timber sales systems give Canadian producers an unfair cost advantage that injures U.S. producers and their workers," it said.

But Canadian governments have changed the way they operate to address such concerns. Timber auctions are now used to better reflect current market rates.

"The government of Canada disagrees strongly with the U.S. Department of Commerce's decision to impose an unfair and punitive duty," reads a joint statement issued by Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. "The accusations are baseless and unfounded."
Click to expand...

Anti-dumping duties still to come
This week's decision is the first of two investigations that began following a petition launched last fall by the Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade or Negotiations (COALITION), which includes the Washington-based U.S. Lumber Coalition lobby group, a carpenters union and about a dozen American timber producers and sawmills.

It claims to represent the concerns of about 70 per cent of the U.S. industry.

The investigation looked at the top four Canadian companies that export to the U.S.: West Fraser; Tolko, Canfor and Resolute Forest Products.

Duties will be applied to these major importers as follows, based on the department's determination of relative injury to the U.S. industry:
  • Canfor: 20.26 per cent.
  • Resolute: 12.82 per cent.
  • Tolko: 19.50 per cent.
  • West Fraser: 24.12 per cent.
All other Canadian imports will be subject to duties of 19.88 per cent, with one exception.

J.D. Irving, an Atlantic Canadian company that harvests timber from largely private forests in the Maritimes, asked for a separate review of its operations.

Based on that investigation, duties on Irving products will be only 3.02 per cent.

Last week, the New Brunswick government said it was still fighting to exempt other Maritime producers from the U.S. actions.

The duties are expected to be collected at the border starting early next week.

bc-softwood-20170407.jpg

Many provinces have now appointed envoys to work towards a new softwood lumber deal with the U.S. In B.C., Christy Clark (right) appointed David Emerson (left), the Conservative cabinet minister who brokered the 2006 deal. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)​


In addition, the Commerce Department found that "critical circumstances exist," justifying the charging of retroactive duties for Canadian imports shipped over the last 90 days by all companies except for the four largest importers who were part of the investigation.

These large companies do not face the retroactive duties – only the smaller companies will.

Canadian companies will be billed for these payments shortly, with payments due upon receipt.

Susan Yurkovich, the president of the B.C. lumber trade council, said in a statement that this finding of critical circumstances represents an "unprecedented departure" from the previous U.S. approach and is "entirely arbitrary."
Click to expand...

'We will not give up'

The highest duties have been levied on companies from Western Canada.

"Canadian lumber imports don't pose a threat to the U.S. lumber industry. There is enough North American demand to grow the U.S. industry while also allowing Canada to supply its U.S. customers, as we have been doing for decades," Yurkovich said, suggesting these protectionist duties will create price volatility in the U.S. market.

In a statement late Monday, B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark, who is currently campaigning for re-election as premier, said her message to forest workers is: "We are here for you. We will fight for you. And we will not give up."



Tuesday's duties are preliminary.

On June 23, a second investigation will reveal the Commerce Department's findings on a parallel anti-dumping investigation, another remedy the U.S. lobby asked for to balance unfair Canadian imports.

The full impact of the American government's actions won't be felt for months.

After these preliminary duties, a combined duty rate will be set sometime next fall: the Commerce Department suggested it may come as early as Sept. 7, but Canadian industry officials suggest that could be delayed until November.

The final injury determination will be made by the U.S. International Trade Commission, likely in January 2018.

Canada is expected to appeal to both a NAFTA dispute resolution panel as well as the World Trade Organization (WTO.)

"In ruling after ruling since 1983, international tribunals have disproved the unfounded subsidy and injury allegations from the U.S. industry," read the joint statement from Carr and Freeland on Monday. "We have prevailed in the past and we will do so again."
Click to expand...


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wilbur-ross-softwood-tarrif-1.4083968
 
Last edited:
The lumber thing is interesting. I believe the tariff has been as high as 40% in the recent past.
 
Without the real details I feel like this will be another loss for America and a win for multinational corporations.

Show me some drained swamp, Mr President.
 
panamaican said:
The lumber thing is interesting. I believe the tariff has been as high as 40% in the recent past.
Click to expand...
The 24% blanket rate applies to 5 specific companies. I believe I read that there are higher tariffs already in place on some Canadian lumber. I don't have a source handy right now, sorry.
 
panamaican said:
The lumber thing is interesting. I believe the tariff has been as high as 40% in the recent past.
Click to expand...

Indeed, when that softwood lumber pact between U.S and Canada expired last October and they didin't strike a renewal deal with President Obama, we all knew duties would be slapped on their export again, no matter who won the next Presidency. The only question was how much.

Would be very interesting to see the horse-tradings during NAFTA negotiation in an attempt to settle this decades-old dispute once and for all.
 
Last edited:
Wilbur Ross says Canada is 'dumping lumber,' as Ottawa vows to push back
'I'm confident that this is a good case,' U.S. commerce secretary says as Canadians call duties a 'shakedown'
By Janyce McGregor | Apr 25, 2017
trump.jpg

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters in Washington Tuesday that the current disputes with Canada over softwood lumber and dairy products are proof that NAFTA needs to be renegotiated sooner rather than later.​

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday the White House was hoping to get the softwood lumber dispute with Canada out of the way before NAFTA renegotiations began, appearing to blame Canada for not resolving the issue sooner.

But Canada's forest industry says there was no evidence of an American desire to get a deal prior to the U.S. Commerce Department's decision to levy countervailing duties of between three and 24 per cent on Canadian imports.

"Everything relates to everything else when you are trying to negotiate," Ross told reporters at a White House briefing in Washington. "What we had tried to do was to clear the air and get this dispute out of the way before the big NAFTA talks went on. That was not possible to achieve and that's why we went ahead and released the findings."

"People don't realize Canada's been very rough on the United States," President Donald Trump said at an agriculture roundtable shortly after.

"But they've outsmarted our politicians for many years," he said, "so we did institute a very big tariff."

Ross told reporters Canada is "generally a good neighbour," but "that doesn't mean they don't have to play by the rules."

"Things like this I don't regard as being a good neighbour, dumping lumber."

"It's not a question of President Trump 'messing' with the Canadians. We believe the Canadians violated legitimate practice," Ross said, explaining his department's decision.

In Vancouver, representatives from the B.C. Lumber Trade Council took issue with the U.S. characterization of Canada's willingness to negotiate a new deal to settle the dispute.

"The challenge for us is we haven't really had a willing dance partner on the other side," said Susan Yurkovich, the industry association's president. "There was no desire to get a deal on the other side."

"The Canadian industry is not subsidized. Log costs in the United States are less than they are in Canada," said Duncan Davies, the CEO of Interfor Corporation. "We should all understand the work of politics in this whole situation."

Davies said he agreed with former cabinet minister David Emerson, now B.C.'s lumber envoy, who called these moves a shakedown. "This shouldn't be described as anything other than that."
Click to expand...

Ready to fight back

Yurkovich said the decision to make duties retroactive was a particularly "egregious outcome" and "completely unprecedented," accusing the U.S. of pitting Canadian companies against each other in the way it made duties retroactive for some, but not all.

"It doesn't make any sense," she said, adding that until they've had a chance to actually read the U.S. rationale — it hasn't been made available to either companies or Canadian governments yet — they can't say further what their counter-arguments will be.

"These guys are deal makers," she said, suggesting the tough duties may be an American attempt to "rattle the cage" before talks begin.

"We're not going to be rattled," she said.

B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark, currently campaigning for re-election, told reporters she had spoken to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today. The conference call with the rest of the premiers focused on Canada's next moves.

"We're only going to accept an agreement with the United States … that is good and fair for B.C. workers. We will fight and we will win," Clark said.

According to the PMO, Trudeau and the premiers agreed to work together to "strongly defend Canadian interests."

At a news conference in Ottawa, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr told reporters the U.S. move was not a surprise, and that although he wasn't announcing anything immediately, Canada is exploring its legal options.

"Independent trade panels have repeatedly found these claims to be baseless. We have prevailed in the past and we will do so again," he said.

"Our government disagrees strongly with this decision," the minister said. "It is unfounded and we will vigorously fight for the interests of the Canadian softwood lumber industry, its workers, and their communities."

But the short-term effects will harm the industry and workers, he said.

"If we look at the history of these trade actions, there inevitably will be job losses, and we will focus our efforts on doing whatever we can to ease the impact of those job losses," Carr said.

Carr said there are "existing programs" to help the lumber industry and its workers — although any major effort to bail out the industry may spark further criticism from south of the border. "It's always a balance," he said.
Click to expand...

Negotiated settlement still preferable

softwood-201704233.jpg

Workers sort and move lumber at the Delta Cedar Sawmill in Delta, B.C., earlier this year. The United States fired the opening shot in a fifth softwood-lumber war with Canada on Tuesday, and policy-makers north of the border are calculating the potential damage of American duties. ​

Because the Canadian government was unable to negotiate a new softwood lumber agreement with former president Barack Obama's administration, Canada and the U.S. were on a collision course before Trump was elected last fall.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said the government had not done enough to prepare for a day it knew was coming, saying Trudeau had 18 months since the expiry of the previous deal to work on a plan to support the Canadian industry and yet had nothing new to announce today.

"What has this government been doing for 18 months, that's the real question," Mulcair said. "Apparently the answer is nothing."

"We remember Obama and Mr. Trudeau talking about 100 days and we'd have this solved. Well they didn't solve it," said the Conservative critic for Canada-U.S. relations, Randy Hoback. "Now we have a lot of families sitting there without a certain future."

Liberal ministers have been making frequent trips to the United States in recent months to discuss trade issues with their U.S. and state counterparts.

Carr noted that softwood lumber has been a major trade irritant between the two countries for nearly two centuries and that Canada has won the dispute every time.

"We remain confident that a negotiated settlement is not only possible but in the best interests of both countries," the minister said.

The full extent of the potential damage to Canada's industry won't be known until a parallel anti-dumping duties investigation is complete. More duties are expected when that reports back in June, and then a combined duty rate will be determined in the fall.

The range of these preliminary countervailing duties — three to 24 per cent for five major importers, with all other companies facing duties of 19.88 per cent — is not wildly off the 19.31 countervailing duties imposed in the last round of this dispute in 2001. The eventual combined duty rate in that round was about 27 per cent.

It's too early to conclude that it will be higher this time, although some fear it will be.

There have been signs from the U.S. Commerce Department that it might be willing to exempt some Atlantic Canadian provinces from the new duties. But officials told reporters in Ottawa Thursday they've had no confirmation yet that such an exemption is coming.

Trudeau also spoke with Trump by phone Tuesday. Both the White House and the Prime Minister's Office released statements after the call.

The U.S. statement simply said, "The two leaders discussed the dairy trade in Wisconsin, New York state and various other places. They also discussed lumber coming into the United States. It was a very amicable call."

The statement issued by the PMO was far longer and included details of the arguments Trudeau made in defence of the softwood lumber and dairy industries in Canada.

The release says Trudeau dismissed the U.S. Department of Commerce's "baseless accusations," on softwood and he also noted that U.S. has a dairy trade surplus with Canada. The pair also "agreed on the importance of reaching a negotiated settlement" on lumber.
Click to expand...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-reaction-softwood-countervailing-tuesday-1.4084390
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,014
Messages
55,461,153
Members
174,787
Latest member
Santos FC 1912

Share this page

Back
Top