Pettigrew confirms push to add labour to NAFTA.
[TideGlider : I don't think the exchange rate is as critical as you are suggesting, but it does have an affect.I recall the mid 90's where a big issue was cross-boarder shopping. That would be canadians jumping over the boarder for " cheap stuff ".American companies along the boarder expanded big time, only to see much of it dissapear with the gap in the rate.You are correct, in that there is animosity at times though, but NOTHING I would describe as " hate " or " ANTI " or whatever.
The exchange rate reflects our present close ties with the US economy, as well as the typical strength in the US dollar when the world is in periods of uncertainty.The loonie ( among others ) gets little respect these days, Post - Euro, on the international trading markets, and is considered by some to be anywhere from 10 to 20 percent undervalued.I believe it should be trading at around .75 today - not 63 or whatever, but there are many forces at work here.]
Hot of la press.....
Working with U.S. envoy: Trade Minister echoes comments by Manley, Dodge
Anne Dawson, Chief Political Correspondent -- Nationally Pissed <G>
Saturday, October 26, 2002
LOS CABOS, Mexico - Pierre Pettigrew, the Minister of International Trade, confirmed yesterday that Canada is working to improve the North American Free Trade Agreement to allow a greater flow of labour in North America.
Mr. Pettigrew, meeting with his trade counterparts in the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum on the Baja peninsula, said he had been working with Bob Zoellick, the U.S. trade representative, on improving the nine-year-old NAFTA deal.
"In all of our exchanges, I know that Ambassador Zoellick wants to strengthen the NAFTA membership. This is the sort of thing we are exploring within the working group on labour within NAFTA at this moment," Mr. Pettigrew told the National Post in an interview yesterday.
His comments come a day after John Manley, the Finance Minister, said the government wants to expand NAFTA to take care of "unfinished business."
"Any agenda for deepening or broadening NAFTA would certainly be something that would be interesting to us, provided it included tackling issues like countervail and anti-dumping," Mr. Manley said.
And on Wednesday, David Dodge, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, said the Canadian and U.S. economies must be further integrated to reduce the threat of Canadian companies being shut out of U.S. markets, though this would open Canada's borders even more to the United States.
Mr. Dodge made particular reference to the labour market, saying that while highly skilled professionals can move freely back and forth under NAFTA, that is not the case for most workers.
Closer economic ties appear to be popular with Canadians. A new poll shows 63% of people favour expanding free trade with the United States.
Yesterday, Mr. Pettigrew mentioned the labour situation between Canada and Mexico as one that could be improved.
Although 200,000 Mexican workers come to Canada every year on temporary work permits to carry out unskilled jobs, including work on farms and orchards, few highly skilled workers come to Canada from Mexico.
He stressed, however, that he is not interested in "renegotiating" NAFTA, or expanding it so as to include a common market or a common currency. "Some people call it NAFTA plus. Some people call it beyond NAFTA. But if you say beyond NAFTA, it means for some a common market. That's not what I'm referring to. I'm talking about the NAFTA institution, which in my view is functioning very well, but keeps being improved," he said.
He also made it clear that a prerequisite to new measures must be finding better ways to resolve ongoing trade disputes, such as the problem that erupted when the United States took measures against softwood lumber exporters to block trade at the border.
"My top priority, obviously, would be the trade remedies. Ambassador Zoellick keeps saying we have more dumping cases against the U.S. than they have against us. I won't go into the numbers games. We have always said we believe American trade laws are wrong and unfair and arbitrary and that these trade laws should be changed," he said.
Mr. Pettigrew said he spoke with Mr. Zoellick for 45 minutes about ongoing trade disputes, such as softwood lumber and wheat.
On the softwood file, in particular, he said they discussed ways in which Canada might be able to make changes to its forest management practices to reduce or eliminate the 19% tariff the United States has slapped on Canadian softwood.
Paul Cellucci, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, said this week, "We're certainly open to discussing these issues. NAFTA has worked well for all three countries. I don't see why we wouldn't want to discuss areas of further co-operation."
The U.S. administration said it is interested in renegotiating parts of NAFTA but mainly its concerns are with Mexico, rather than Canada.
"There are trade issues that are out there that are all part of the NAFTA arrangements and there is a list of specific trade items there," a senior U.S trade official said.
"If Ambassador Zoellick were here, he would say everything should be put on the negotiating table. That's the U.S. approach. And everyone will have to negotiate seriously, and the United States is prepared to do that. And we're expecting others to do it as well."
According to a survey by Toronto-based Environics Group and Montreal's CROP polling firm, a clear majority, 63%, favoured expanding free trade with the United States to include labour, allowing workers to move freely between the two countries in search of jobs.
A slim majority, 53%, agreed there should preferably be a common Canada-U.S. currency, with the caveat that it shouldn't necessarily be the U.S. dollar.
On tax harmonization, 58% were in favour and 34% against.
The survey of 2,939 Canadians across the country has a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points.
In other trade matters, Mr. Pettigrew, who was meeting his trade counterparts prior to this weekend's meeting of the world APEC leaders, said terrorism dominated. Pacific Rim nations are wrestling with the spectre of terrorism and trying to help a free economic system thrive in a new century fraught with unprecedented dangers. The most recent examples since the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York include the bombing of a Bali nightclub and the hostage takeover of a Moscow theatre. Officials fear these crises could adversely affect trade within APEC economies.
"We want to work very hard at making sure that the measures that we have to take to fight terrorism do not affect trade. We want to make sure that goods can circulate and legitimate travellers related to trade travel as easily and effectively as the economy requires in this day and age," Mr. Pettigrew said. "We do not want the terrorists to win by slowing down the economy and harming the economy."
Officials said a new measure called the Secure Transportation in the APEC Region (or STAR) initiative, is a key plank to combat terrorism.
It focuses on improving and speeding up container security at ports of entry, ensuring stronger cockpit doors in airplanes and bringing in common standards at customs.
A government official said Canada already leads the way in many of these areas because it acted immediately after Sept. 11 to tighten trade security measures. But many of the less-developed APEC countries have not.
Canada will play a role in helping them improve their standards, officials said.
adawson@nationallypissed.com |
