Trade, Peace, Development, Order... worn out ideals for current times?
The nations must be organized internationally and induced to enter into partnership, subordinating in some measure national sovereignty to worldwide institutions and obligations
-- Arthur Henderson
-- Arthur Henderson
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TRUMP |
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TRADE |
THE
NAFTA ROUND TO END ALL NAFTA ROUNDS? It's the first day of what could be
a defining round of NAFTA talks. Negotiators from the U.S., Canada and Mexico
will converge on a Pentagon City, Va., hotel, but the real fireworks may be
seen north of the Potomac as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discusses
the pact with President Donald Trump and House Ways and Means Committee
members. Even before Trudeau landed in
Washington on Tuesday, Trump's latest views on NAFTA emerged in a Forbes
Magazine interview: "I happen to think that NAFTA will have to
be terminated if we're going to make it good," he said. "Otherwise, I
believe you can't negotiate a good deal." Agriculture Secretary Sonny
Perdue, seeking to soothe nerves on Tuesday, interpreted Trump's statement to
mean the president wants "to redefine and renegotiate NAFTA in a free and
fair trade deal. We support him in that."
But on a more substantive level, the talks could see some of the
thorniest U.S. proposals thrown onto the negotiating table, including
on automotive rules of origin, investor-state dispute settlement, a five-year
"sunset" provision and a bid to rid the agreement of its trade remedy
dispute provisions. Still unclear is whether those proposals are merely
starting points for negotiations or red lines that will send the talks into
free fall. "This is absolutely headed
for a disaster," one worried business lobbyist told Morning Trade.
"This is an absolute crisis. I am pretty damn pessimistic about where
NAFTA is headed." The talks this
week could also be the longest round yet, having been extended by two days.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will return to Washington on Oct.
17 to meet with her U.S. and Mexican counterparts and close the talks, a
spokesman for her office told Morning Trade. Freeland is in Washington this
week with Trudeau and will accompany him to Mexico for the second leg of his
trip. [POLITICO's Morning Trade, October
11, 2017]
FARMERS
FOR FREE TRADE GETS FARM BUREAU BACKING: A new grass-roots
campaign will attempt to connect free trade with economic success for farmers
and rural communities as NAFTA remains under threat and uncertainty clouds U.S.
trade policy in Asia. The Farmers for Free Trade group, which is headed by
former Sens. Max Baucus and Dick Lugar and received the support Tuesday of the
American Farm Bureau Federation, will seek to mobilize farmers nationwide as a
force for supporting existing and future trade deals. "We're going to drive home the threats
to export markets like Mexico, Canada, South Korea are threats to states like
Kansas, Kentucky and Washington," said Sara Lilygren, president of the
group's board of directors, during a press call on Tuesday afternoon. The bipartisan effort will seize on the
agriculture industry's general frustration with the Trump administration's
trade policy, which many in the export-oriented sector argue started off with a
misstep when the newly elected president abandoned the Trans-Pacific
Partnership and then put at risk major benefits to agriculture by initiating a
renegotiation of NAFTA. The group also intends to speak out on the hits ag has
taken as a result of enforcement actions and the need to pursue new trade
deals, she said. [POLITICO's
Morning Trade, October 11, 2017]
NAFTA ROUND 4: WHERE WE STAND: The
mood at the Sheraton Pentagon City over the weekend was perhaps best summed up
in the words of one attendee close to the talks, who described the outlook as
"pretty pessimistic." Industry officials and representatives from
various trade associations and labor unions milled in the lobby and around the
hotel bar, wondering aloud how close Washington might be getting to walking
away from the table entirely. USTR held
a late afternoon USTR briefing for cleared advisers. As talks continue today,
here's a rundown of some of the primary points of discussion:
- Trade deficits. Representatives from the
business community, agriculture groups, organized labor and other concerned
parties were given a stark reminder of why they were hanging out in a
nondescript hotel conference room on a Sunday afternoon: The Trump
administration wants to renegotiate NAFTA in order to reduce the U.S. trade
deficit. That was the opening message
from Daniel Watson, the deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative for North
America, according to sources familiar with the briefing. Less clear was which
of the U.S. proposals - ranging from a major overhaul of the automobile rules
of origin to disarming the pact's dispute settlement provisions - USTR thought
would directly achieve the goal rebalancing America's trade with Canada and
Mexico, sources said.
- Dairy. Two days of talks centered on the
agriculture chapter focused at least in part on dairy. The U.S. made a proposal
to reverse a Canadian pricing program that has undercut certain U.S. dairy
exports north of the border. The text, which demands that Canada eliminate an
industry pricing classification that lowered domestic prices for certain milk
protein concentrate products to the minimum global price, was met with swift
pushback from those who see it as a direct threat to Canada's supply management
system. It does not include any language on market access, as those provisions
will be negotiated separately.
-- A 'full assault': Sources familiar with
the U.S. position characterized the proposal as a five-page attack on Canada's
supply management system that not only demands the elimination of the new price
class on milk protein concentrates, but also includes onerous
"transparency" requirements for Canada to report pricing decisions.
(Supply management sets up a system that stabilizes income for dairy farmers by
limiting supply, restricting imports and setting prices on milk.) "The United States is preparing a full
assault on Canada's supply management system," said Christopher Monette,
director of public affairs for Teamsters Canada. The labor union represents
about 35,000 to 40,000 workers in the country's dairy industry.
- Auto rules of origin. The United States
formally introduced proposal to drastically tighten the rules of origin for
automobiles, calling for the amount of content in a car that must be sourced
from a NAFTA country in order to be eligible for tariff benefits to rise to 85
percent from its current 62.5 percent. Washington has also proposed for the
first time a U.S.-specific content requirement, which would mandate that 50
percent of a car produced in Canada or Mexico be sourced from within the United
States in order to qualify for duty reductions.
USTR's proposal also calls for the domestic content provision to come
into effect immediately and for the rules of origin to rise over a two-year
phase-in period - a time frame critics are saying is far too short.
- Seasonal produce. Mexico gave a hard
"no" to the produce proposal on Friday sending its first clear,
united signal that the proposal would be fought. The Mexican government and
private sector would "for no reason accept the seasonality clause,"
said Bosco de la Vega, president of Consejo Nacional Agropecuario, Mexico's
main agriculture group. De la Vega referenced a conversation he had with
Mexico's ministers of agriculture and economy last week, when all agreed that
the proposal was a nonstarter. The only effect the proposal would have, if
enacted, he said, "Is that my associates in Mexico will ask for
seasonality in grains, soy, corn, meat and all the products that affect the
Mexican industry." An industry compromise appears elusive, dividing fruit
and vegetable growers in the United States. Tom Stenzel, president and CEO of
the United Fresh Produce Association, summed it best: "I feel like I'm on
a tightrope."
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FOREIGN POLICY |
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REX TILLERSON
Secretary of State
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HEALTHCARE |
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TAXES |
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IMMIGRATION |
It has been one month since Donald Trump
rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, putting
the lives of immigrant youth in immediate danger. In that time, despite
bipartisan legislation and overwhelming public support, Congress has made little progress on passing a legislative
solution to this human rights crisis. Every day Congress holds off, waves of
more and more immigrant youth will become vulnerable to Trump’s deportation
agents. The DREAM
Act has the power to protect more than 1.5 million members of our communities who
arrived in the United States as children. But xenophobic, nativist members of
Congress have signaled that they plan to use this bill as an opportunity to
enact draconian enforcement and anti-family policies. All
immigrants have the right to exist and thrive. They deserve recognition,
dignity and respect for all they provide. Immigrant youth
are not bargaining chips for escalating detention, deportation, and border
militarization fantasies. They should not be leveraged at the expense of their
families and community. [Daily Kos, October 5, 2017]
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READ |
ISIS
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PUTIN |
NOTE: The news sources here vary. Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here. This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased. Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value. Thank you
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