Canada came out fairly well with USMCA

It’s not all good — that’s how give-and-take negotiations work — but the early verdict is the Trudeau government did an impressive job of standing firm against the blustery Donald Trump and his gang in free-trade talks, which concluded this weekend.

Now called USMCA, instead of NAFTA, the Canadian government made some gains, fended off concessions demanded by the Americans, suffered a few minor losses and struck out on a couple issues in these trade talks.

Overall though, Canada came out pretty well.

The biggest impact locally might be in the wine sector where the new trade agreement will allow American wines to be sold in B.C. grocery stories.

Some in the wine industry might complain the government sold them out, but that’s an issue we were going to lose on anyway. The United States had already filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization that it was likely to win.

Even B.C. Premier John Horgan admitted: “We knew this was a problem that we were going to have to fix.”

Ottawa will also face criticism for concessions in the dairy sector. U.S. dairy producers will now have access to 3.6 per cent of Canada’s domestic milk market, among other gains. That’s still a small amount.

Drug costs may rise. Drug companies will receive 10 years of protection from generic competition for so-called biologic drugs — up from eight, but that’s less than the 12 the Americans wanted.

Canada wasn’t able to get exemptions from all current and threatened U.S. tariffs. Buy America provisions also remain, but Trump will have more difficulty justifying tariffs now that he’s agreed to a trade deal with us.

The biggest win might be in the auto sector, where Canada effectively negotiated an exemption to U.S. tariffs. We agreed to a cap on exports that we’ll never reach anyway.

Higher wage thresholds, which Mexico agreed to, will “stem the exodus of good paying jobs from Canada,” according to Jerry Dias head of the Unifor union, which represents most auto workers. Dias and other labour leaders expressed satisfaction with many aspects of the deal. Hearing labour praise a trade deal is something new.

Chapter 19, the dispute resolution mechanism, was preserved against Trump’s wishes. The clause means disputes are settled by a panel of judges agreed to by both sides. Trump wanted disputes to be settled in American courts by judges like Brett Kavanaugh.

Canadian cultural protections were preserved, but Canadians in larger cities may no longer be allowed to watch American Super Bowl ads. The deal restores CTV’s ability to block out the American commercials. In the past, the ad blackouts only applied in cities with CTV channels. The Okanagan wasn’t affected.

Something to cheer about is the demise of Chapter 11, the investorstate dispute mechanism, which allows companies to sue when they believe a government regulation has unfairly hurt their profits — for example, environmental regulations that increase costs.

Famously, U.S-based Ethyl Corporation was paid $19.5 million in a settlement after Canada banned a gasoline additive in the 1990s. Canada is the most sued of the three NAFTA countries under Chapter 11. It was NAFTA’s worst clause.

We can also now buy more online from the U.S. or during a quick trip over the border dutyfree. The duty-free limit rises from a paltry $20 to $150 — an overdue change for consumers, but not enough to kill retailers.

Canada drove a hard bargain. It was a lot of fun watching the orange-skinned blowhard get so worked up about some steelywilled Canadians.