Category: Trade Matters

  • THE COMPREHENSIVE AND PROGRESSIVE TPP – CRITICS GIVE THE ‘OCEANS 11’ REMAKE TWO THUMBS UP

    THE COMPREHENSIVE AND PROGRESSIVE TPP – CRITICS GIVE THE ‘OCEANS 11’ REMAKE TWO THUMBS UP Bobby Seeber Two conflicting tectonic plates of trade strategy pushed up against one other in the Asia Pacific last month. Bilateral mercantilism sought to displace trade liberalizing multilateralism in a manner that befitted a rear guard assault on the Prime… Read Full Article »

  • GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT: POLITICAL JUNK FOOD WITH HEARTBURN

    GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT: POLITICAL JUNK FOOD WITH HEARTBURN Bobby Seeber As one of a growing collection of ticking time bombs the US has thrown into the NAFTA renewal conversation, US negotiators have included a demand for strict reciprocity in access to government contracts — that is, Canadian and Mexican access to US public works contracts would… Read Full Article »

  • US SEEKING ADDED PROTECTIONS FOR GROWERS OF SEASONAL AND PERISHABLE GOODS

    US SEEKING ADDED PROTECTIONS FOR GROWERS OF SEASONAL AND PERISHABLE GOODS Bobby Seeber In its July 2017 report to Congress, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) identified new authorities for perishable and seasonal anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations as a US negotiating objective for a revised NAFTA.[1] The US seeks to… Read Full Article »

  • NAFTA NEGOTIATIONS: LET THE WINING BEGIN

    NAFTA NEGOTIATIONS: LET THE WINING BEGIN Bobby Seeber NAFTA negotiations have commenced under a commonly held view that the 1994 agreement could use some “modernization”. Much has transpired in continental commerce and economics over the last 20 odd years, so like a solid house where the owners are disinclined to move, the consensus is that… Read Full Article »

  • THE NAFTA: A “DISASTER” WORTH KEEPING?

    THE NAFTA: A “DISASTER” WORTH KEEPING? Bobby Seeber Within days of being confirmed as the new US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer issued an official notice to the US Congress in early May advising of the Administration’s intention to enter into NAFTA negotiations. All through the long and relentless 2016 US presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump… Read Full Article »

  • TRADE RETALIATION: THE “MOOSE” THAT ROARED?

    TRADE RETALIATION: THE “MOOSE” THAT ROARED? Bobby Seeber Trade disputes have a way of eliciting knee-jerk responses, where governments raise the noise level and flex whatever retaliatory muscle may be available to them. And while this may be gratifying to politicians in this age of “narcissistic populism” — as Justice Rosalie Abella recently coined in… Read Full Article »

  • CRYING OVER SPILLED MILK INGREDIENTS?

    Bobby Seeber The new US Administration has made renegotiation of the NAFTA one of its top priorities, although when you accumulate a long, long list of “top priorities”, the “priorities” part starts to lose some gravitas. Treating everything as a top priority means that nothing gets the attention that a top priority deserves — a… Read Full Article »