The Canadian government would like a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement to reflect technological, social, and other major changes that have occurred since NAFTA was first adopted 23 years ago without compromising Canadian oil and gas and other businesses’ ability to compete internationally, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freedland said on Aug. 14.
“NAFTA should be made more progressive. We will be informed here by the ideas in [the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union], the most progressive trade deal in history, launched by Conservatives and completed, proudly, by our government,” she said in remarks prepared for delivery in Ottawa 2 days before NAFTA renegotiation discussions are scheduled to begin.
Freedland said the Canadian government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will try to improve NAFTA by:
• Bringing strong labor standards into the core of the agreement.
• Enhancing climate change and other environmental provisions and ensuring that no NAFTA country weakens safeguards to attract new investments.
• Adding new chapters on gender equality and rights of indigenous peoples.
• And reforming the Investor-State Dispute Settlement process, which 111 US business associations, including seven from the oil and gas industry, also said they would like to see (OGJ Online, Aug. 10, 2017).
“Canadians broadly support free trade. But their enthusiasm wavers when trade agreements put our workers at an unfair disadvantage because of the high standards that we rightly demand,” Freedland said. “Instead, we must pursue progressive trade agreements that are win-win, helping workers both at home and abroad to enjoy higher wages and better conditions.”
NAFTA renegotiations also offer a valuable opportunity to make life easier for businesses in all three countries by cutting red tape and harmonizing regulations, she maintained. Canada also plans to seek a freer market for government procurement, which she considers a significant CETA accomplishment, Freedland said.
“Local-content provisions for major government contracts are political junk-food, superficially appetizing, but unhealthy in the long run,” she observed. “Procurement liberalization can go hand-in-hand with further regulatory harmonization.”
Freedland said that Canada’s federal government also wants to make the movement of professionals, which is increasingly critical to companies’ ability to innovate across blended supply chains, easier. “NAFTA’s Chapter 16, which addresses temporary entry for business people, should be reviewed and expanded to reflect the needs of our businesses. Here again, CETA provides a model,” she said.
But negotiators also will try to preserve NAFTA’s elements that Canadians consider key to the country’s national interest, including “a process to ensure anti-dumping and countervailing duties are only applied fairly when truly warranted, the exception in the agreement to preserve Canadian culture, and Canada’s system of supply management,” Freedland said.
“In all these discussions, we will come to the table with good will, and Canada’s characteristic ability and willingness to seek compromise and find win-win solutions. But we are committed to a good deal, not just any deal. That will be our bottom line,” she declared.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), American Petroleum Institute, and Mexico’s Association of Hydrocarbon Companies (AMEXHI) outlined their shared policy positions on further strengthening North American energy industry competitiveness under NAFTA (OGJ Online, Aug. 3, 2017). The groups highlighted their support for market-oriented policies and opportunities for commercial growth and job creation in a joint position paper.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
