Trade Cases

Canada Seeks Trade Pact with China as NAFTA Falters
Written by Sandy Williams
December 6, 2017
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned against protectionism at a meeting of business leaders in China on Wednesday, offering a thinly veiled criticism of the Trump trade agenda.
“We are at a pivot point in the world right now, where we decide whether we work together in an open and confident way and succeed or whether we all falter separately and isolated,” he said.
“As that anxiety spreads, people start to turn inwards. They start to close off. They start to get fearful,” he added. “If that continues to happen, make no mistake about it, we will all lose.”
Canada hopes to move forward with a free trade deal with China, said Trudeau, but said any discussions should include gender and labor rights, and the environment. Trudeau has pushed for inclusion of the same progressive agenda in the NAFTA talks.
“China and Canada share the belief that more openness and more collaboration is the right way forward. Closing our doors will only hurt our businesses and our citizens,” Trudeau said. “The old model won’t cut it anymore.”
Back at home, Canadian analysts criticized Trudeau for failing to actually begin trade talks with China. Opening bilateral negotiations with China would be a strong signal to the Trump administration that Canada has other trading options than the United States, should Trump pull the U.S. out of the NAFTA agreement.
Trudeau met with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing but was unable to clinch the prize of formal negotiations, possibly due to Trudeau’s goals of protecting labor and gender rights. Li was on board with battling climate change and working together on clean-technology.
“We agreed to uphold global trade liberalization,” said Li during the joint news conference. “On the bilateral [free trade agreement] we will continue exploratory talks. China is open … to the process and the content of such exploratory talks.”
Later, Trudeau stressed that eventually Canada will have a significant trade agreement with China because of the scale of the Chinese economy.
“A trade agreement is not a small thing. It’s a big thing. Canadians understand how important it is to get it right, and we are ensuring that through progress made today in discussions that we will be able to continue moving forward in a responsible way,” said Trudeau.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Trade Cases

Leibowitz: With ‘reciprocal’ tariffs struck down again in court, what happens next?
President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Policy Act (IEEPA) were struck down again, this time on Aug. 29 by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The legal and policy mess continues, with the next stop being the US Supreme Court.

Market unfazed by US circuit court’s IEEPA decision
Repealing any reciprocal tariffs placed by President Donald Trump on US imports of direct reduced iron (DRI), iron ore, hot-briquetted iron (HBI), and pig iron would have only a nominal impact on the US steel market, market participants said.

ITC votes to keep HR duties after sunset review
The US government determined this week that hot-rolled steel imports from a handful of countries continue to threaten the domestic steel industry.

Steel Summit: Zekelman advocates for ‘Fortress North America’
Barry Zekelman has a unique vantage point from which to view today’s trade landscape. A Canadian national who owns operations in both the US and Canada, he has also had dialogue with both Canadian and American administrations.

Steel Summit: Execs urge clarity on trade/tariff policy, want stronger USMCA
Tariff policy dominated the discussion of the SMU Steel Summit trade panel on Tuesday afternoon. The message was clear: uncertainty is rattling the steel supply chain.