Stirring the pot in trade talks
MAJORITY OF TARIFF LINES HAVE SIMPLY BEEN ELIMINATED.
As international trade frictions heat up, with NA FT A and Brexit topping the list of concerns, many other countries are continuing their efforts to increase access to economic markets and close remaining regulatory gaps in global financial reporting standards.
Right now, the focus is on recasting the North American Free Trade Agreement —ago al U.S. President Donald Trump hammered home during and after the American election campaign.
The fifth round of negotiations is to begin this week in Mexico City — but there are scant signs these talks will show much progress on sticky trade issues for Canada, ranging from auto parts to softwood lumber to dairy- product quotas, when this leg of talks wraps up Nov. 21. Two more meetings on the future of 23- year- old trade deal are scheduled before the original end-of-year deadline, although the U. S. has indicated talks could continue through March or beyond.
Meanwhile, the makeup of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — the world’s largest trading bloc, finalized in 2016 — seemed in doubt after Trump earlier this year pulled out of the 12-nation group in favour of the U. S. seeking separate regional agreements.
But trade ministers from the remaining 11 nations said Saturday in Vietnam they have reached a basic agreement on the Pacific Rim trade pact without the U.S.
A statement i ssued in the early hours of Saturday said an accord was reached on “core elements” of the 11-member group.
Still uncer t ain is t he ongoing fallout from the United Kingdom’s June, 2016, referendum result in favour of Britain exiting the European Union — a decision that will require Canada to work on a separate free- trade agreement with the U. K. — while carrying on with other European signatories to the full Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement ( CETA), ratified in September, 2017.
“In the seven years it took to negotiate the CETA, both sides were inventing new things and new approaches, and looking at issues that had never been looked at in that way before,” said James Ogilvy, a former member of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and an adviser to the Alberta government during the CETA negotiations.
“Also, the EU team know the U. K. well, so they will not have to go through all the same learning phases they had to with Canada,” said Ogilvy, who authored the report “CETA, Brexit and Beyond” f or the accountancy body ICAS, based in Edinburgh.
“It’s a real success for the CETA that, for Canada and the EU, the great majority of tariff lines have simply been eliminated.”
Meanwhile, i mproving and unifying accounting standards around the globe has been a long process, stretching back decades.