Dear International Trade and Investment Committee Members,
Here are the international trade and investment articles and publications of interest for the week of March 10 to March 16. This week’s edition has been curated by Andrew Lanouette. Andrew is International Trade Counsel at Cassidy Levy Kent in Ottawa and the Co-Chair of the International Trade and Investment Committee.
Top News: Canada Signs Free Trade Agreement with South Korea
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that Canada and the Republic of Korea have concluded negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement that will significantly boost trade and investment ties between the two countries, creating jobs and opportunities for Canadians in every region of the country.
- Thank you, President Park, and thank you not just on behalf of myself but on behalf of the welcome accorded to our entire delegation. Business delegates, by members of the Korean Canadian community and also by a number of my parliamentary colleagues, Minister James Moore, Minister Ed Fast, members of Parliament, Barry Devolin, Ron Cannon, Terence Young, Chungsen Leung and also Senator Yonah Kim-Martin, we all appreciate your welcome. We last met on the margins of the APEC Summit in Bali last fall as you mentioned, Madam President.
- This document summarizes the key negotiated outcomes of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement as announced on March 11, 2014, in Seoul.
- Harper government wants increased Canadian access to agriculture markets, as critics worry about auto industry.
- Canada-South Korea trade deal phases out automotive, agricultural tariffs.
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper failed to protect the domestic auto industry in his trade deal with Korea, says Eric Hoskins, Ontario’s trade minister.
- Minister Fast says deeper trade with South Korea, a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, will create new jobs and opportunities for Canadians in every region of the country.
- There is little question that economic power has shifted from Europe and North America to Asia. But it does not follow that the neoliberal philosophy embedded in NAFTA-style trade and investment agreements such as the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA) will serve Canadians well in the coming Asian century.
- The CKFTA is Canada's first with an Asian country. It is being widely touted as a necessary foothold in the Asia-Pacific region, and as a stepping stone to future pacts with Japan, the 11 nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and ultimately China. Yet the rapid breakthrough in the long-stalled talks appears to be driven more by political rather than trade policy factors.
Other News of Note
- Greece, Cyprus and Spain are facing claims from speculative investors worth more than €1.7 billion in a series of eurozone-related investor-state disputes that could spiral dramatically under a proposed EU-US trade deal known as TTIP, a new report says.
- As the federal government touts a free-trade agreement with South Korea, a new survey shows Canada’s millennial generation supportive of international trade agreements, believing they make business more profitable, create jobs and open new markets.
- EU fights to defend the use of native cheese by U.S. knock-offs.
- The United States and Japan made some progress on resolving a deadlock over tariffs on farm and industrial exports which is dragging on a wider Pacific trade deal, a senior Japanese official said on Wednesday.
- U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders will promise to remove all tariffs on bilateral trade at a summit on March 26, an ambitious step towards the world's largest free-trade deal, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters.
- The revised WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) will enter into force on 6 April, trade officials confirmed this week. The changes to the pact are expected to generate US$100 billion in increased market access, in addition to the US$500 billion already covered by the existing deal.
- Despite assurances from South Korean trade officials that discussions are “moving toward an end,” last week’s trilateral trade talks between Japan, China and South Korea produced limited advances, officials say. This marks the fourth round since the three Asian economies kicked off negotiations nearly two years ago.
Government Announcements/Press Releases
- The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today decided not to initiate an expiry review of its finding made on November 24, 2009, concerning mattress innerspring units, originating in or exported from the People's Republic of China.
- Director-General Roberto Azevêdo reported to the General Council on 14 March 2014 that the chairs of the negotiating groups have completed the first round of consultations on Doha Round issues that might be taken forward. He said: “I have heard a lot of good feedback—and I think there is much which we can build on constructively. But, nevertheless, there remains a lot to do.”
- The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has today concluded a re-investigation to update the normal values and export prices of certain carbon steel fasteners originating in or exported from the People’s Republic of China (China) and Chinese Taipei and to update the amounts of subsidy of certain carbon steel fasteners originating in or exported from China, pursuant to the Special Import Measures Act (SIMA).
- The Canadian International Trade Tribunal today initiated an interim review of its finding made on November 20, 2012, in Inquiry No. NQ-2012-001, concerning liquid dielectric transformers having a top power handling capacity equal to or exceeding 60,000 kilovolt amperes (60 megavolt amperes), whether assembled or unassembled, complete or incomplete, originating in or exported from the Republic of Korea. This interim review was initiated by the Tribunal following a new final determination of dumping made by the President of the Canada Border Services Agency pursuant to paragraph 41.1(1)(a) of the Special Import Measures Act in respect of the above-mentioned goods.
Commentary
- In 2009, four years before the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was a widely-debated trade deal, few would have noticed a new issue popping up in a handful of lobbying reports. That year, 28 organizations filed 59 lobbying reports mentioning the then far-off trade agreement. Almost half of those organizations were pharmaceutical companies or associations.