Thanks to NAFTA rules, “from our perspective Mexico is very much like a domestic market for us, and Canada the same”, Heck said. They have set a loose May date to begin discussions about a revised NAFTA, and both sides have threatened to walk away from the pact.
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The U.S. International Trade Commission predicted TTP would have meant a net increase of 128,000 full-time U.S.jobs in 15 years. Plus, American companies rely on low-cost imports of supplies and parts they use to make and export their own products, he said.
The last Congress provided the president with stronger trade enforcement tools, Brady said.
“The bipartisan vetting process for Mr. Lighthizer to serve at the next U.S. Trade Representative is well underway and the Committee will announce the details for his hearing as soon as they become available”, Forbes added. “Look at where past trade retaliations have happened: It is amazingly pointed and usually pointed at crucial products from swing states which quite often turn out to be agricultural”, Baylis said.
Perhaps equally surprising is that in terms of merchandise trade, Mexico is far more integrated into global markets than is the US -by more than twice as much: Mexico’s exports account for 37% of its GDP, and its imports constitute 36% of its GDP; the corresponding figures for the USA are 13% and 16%, respectively.
And if any sort of new trade barriers are implemented between Canada and the USA, importers may have to look further afield for supply.
Scoular signed on for the simple reason that USA farmers produce more food and feed than the nation consumes, and farmers and agribusinesses need ready access to export markets, senior vice president John Heck said. In 2015 Nebraska sent about $1.3 billion worth of goods to Mexico, including 30 percent of the state’s soybean crop and 17 percent of its corn crop. But trade economists said the process might be tied to U.S. legislation passed under former president Barack Obama that gives the president power to quickly broker a new trade agreement.
“(He will be) representing us in negotiations”, Trump said, with Ross in the room. Zabludovsky appreciates the compliment but said it is far from true. The trade imbalances among Canada, Mexico and the United States are relatively modest and manageable. Trump and the GOP controlled congress won’t attack NAFTA on these grounds, for obvious reasons, and this is what progressives should most be concerned about. It said nothing about reinstating them. The Mexican and USA economies are now integrated to such an extent that changing the trade rules will have a significant impact on both economies. A report by the Economic Policy Institute of Washington found the USA trade deficit with Mexico and Canada displaced about 850,000 American jobs from 1993 to 2013, while the Congressional Research Service summarized several studies to conclude NAFTA had a more modest impact.
Japanese and European carmakers as well as Detroit’s automakers also have made large scale investment in Mexico in recent years and even Chinese carmakers are now eyeing investments in Mexico.
“It’s good if both know where the red lines are”, he said. There are also plenty of NAFTA scapegoaters in Canada.
Mexican Pres. Enrique Pena Nieto and members of his government are readying for talks to re-open NAFTA.
There is a widespread assumption in Canada and the US that Mexico has been the biggest victor from NAFTA. If that was hit with higher taxes, Mexico could put it on a ship and sell it elsewhere.
The real villains in job loss are US and Canadian captains of industry, replacing humans with computer-based advanced manufacturing systems in their ceaseless pursuit of higher productivity and profits.
Actually, the biggest victor from NAFTA is likely the United States. “It would crater prices”, warned Kevin Book, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners, an energy research consultancy that compiled the data on two-way traffic. Cheerleading for a “new NAFTA” is the AFL-CIO, which thinks it could bring back manufacturing jobs.
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