GHY Tradelines

An updated list of recently published government memorandums, notices, regulations and decisions for the week ending June 29, 2011 is now available on our website here.
 

(Toronto Star)

The United States will be allowed to share information about Canadians with other countries under a sweeping new border deal.

A newly released binational privacy charter says that in most cases it won’t have to tell Canada about its plan to pass along the information.

Information-sharing about security cases has sometimes been a sore point between the two countries since the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Canada and the U.S. jointly released the 12-point statement of privacy principles late Thursday, covering areas including data quality, information security, effective oversight, and redress for people whose privacy is infringed.

The principles help flesh out a perimeter security deal struck by the two countries last year. Read more here.
 

(The Canadian Press)

Canadians are in a U.S. shopping state of mind this summer thanks to changes in regulations that allow them to buy more without paying duty, a new survey suggests.

The Canadian Press-Harris Decima poll on relaxed cross-border shopping limits that went into effect June 1 found a large majority in favour of the changes — and 54 per cent of those planning a trip stateside said they intended to spend more. Additionally, four in 10 said they were likely to purchase more duty-free goods. [...]

As outlined in the March budget, the duty-free threshold on stays longer than 24 hours rose to $200 from $50 beginning this month. The limit on stays longer than 48 hours increased to $800 from the current two-tiered levels of $400 and $750, depending on the length of stay. Read more here.
 

(Journal of Commerce – Joseph Bonney)

Operations in most major Brazilian ports have been affected

Strikes by Brazilian customs officers are disrupting ports and slowing clearance of imports, maritime services provider Inchcape Shipping Services reports.

Industrial actions of varying lengths and degrees have affected operations in most major Brazilian ports, including Santos, Paranagua, Salvador, Manaus, Santarem, Santana and Itacoatiara. The customs officers are demanding better salaries and working conditions. Read more here.
 

(AFP/ch)

China on Thursday defended its limits on exports of rare earths, after major trading partners sought litigation through the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a months-long dispute.

“China’s export restrictions on rare earths are aimed at protecting environmental resources and people’s health, not the protection of domestic industries,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters. “In light of rare earth resources, market supply, demand and consumption, we will continue to practise management over the mining, production and export of rare earths.” Read more here.
 

(The Toronto Star)

The Harper government gets an A for effort on expanding trade globally but a much lower grade on actual successes, according to a new report by a high-powered economic group.

The project organized by Carleton University in Ottawa says Canadians have for too long relied on a “culture of comfort” in easy dependence on trade with the United States.

But exports to the U.S., which accounted for 87% of Canadian sales abroad in 2000, declined to 75% in 2010, the group says. “Depending almost exclusively on domestic and U.S. markets for future prosperity is not sustainable,” states the report, “Winning in a Changing World.” It was put together from national consultations by well-known business, academic and government figures, including project co-chairs Derek Burney, Thomas d’Aquino, Len Edwards and Fen Hampson.

Canada is involved in dozens of free-trade talks or pre-negotiation studies, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper often notes approvingly. But the Carleton study concludes Ottawa should prioritize its negotiations to take advantage of possible trade-liberalization rules with countries that are big enough to provide an economic jolt to Canada. Read more here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

U.S. monthly surface transportation trade in goods with NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico fell 7.0% in April, according to statistics released June 26 by the Department of Transportation.

However, the April total of $79.8 billion was up 8.2% from a year before. Over the last ten years total surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico has risen 70.5%, including an 84.3% gain for exports and a 60.2% increase for imports.

Surface transportation includes freight movements by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, foreign-trade zones and other modes and in April accounted for 86.5% of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico. Surface trade between the U.S. and Canada totaled $47.2 billion, down 5.9% from March but up 5.6% from a year before. Exports dropped 6.9% for the month but climbed 4.5% from the previous April, while imports saw a 5.0% monthly drop but a 6.7% rise year-on-year. U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $32.6 billion, down 8.6% from March but a 12.0% increase from the previous year. Exports fell 7.0% and imports slumped 9.8% for the month, but both categories saw increases from April 2011 (13.7% and 10.8%, respectively).

(STR Trade Report)

The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has created a new Web site that will provide stakeholders with information about the commodity import approval process for plants and plant products, including fruits, vegetables, plants for planting, cut flowers, wood and wood products.

Persons who request changes to the import regulations and who wish to import plants, plant parts or plant products that are not allowed into the U.S. must file a request with APHIS. USDA regulations set forth the procedures for submitting requests and supporting information, which includes information about the requestor, information about the commodity to be imported, shipping information, a description of pests and diseases associated with the commodity, risk mitigation or management strategies, and additional information as determined by APHIS to complete a pest risk analysis in accordance with international standards. Once the risk analysis has been completed and APHIS determines that the risks associated with the commodity in question can be adequately mitigated, the risk analysis is made available for public comment.

In response to stakeholder requests for more information about the commodity import approval process and the ability to participate at an earlier stage in the development of risk assessments, APHIS has created a Web site that will describe each major step in this process, including a general description of the following: determination of the import status of a commodity, submission of a request by a national plant protection organization, initiation and drafting of risk assessment and risk management documents, completion of an environmental review, and publication and implementation of new requirements, as applicable. APHIS will also post draft risk assessments on this Web site for 30 days to give stakeholders an opportunity to review them and provide comments via email.

(Mitch Potter – Toronto Star)

Canada is nothing if not 34 million experts on the United States. But only a select few have the credentials to pronounce on our cross-border condition quite like Derek Burney.

As former chief of staff to Brian Mulroney and then, right after, Canadian ambassador to Washington, Burney participated actively in the era of smiling Irish eyes, when Mulroney and Ronald Reagan warmed the bilateral bed like never before.

Small wonder, then, the stormy fallout from a provocative new essay by Burney in the prestigious journal Foreign Affairs under the bombshell headline, “How Obama Lost Canada.”

Burney and co-author Fen Osler Hampson, director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, place Barack Obama’s “mishandling” of the Keystone XL pipeline as central to the thesis that this president has effectively squandered Canada’s love.

Nowhere in the article did Foreign Affairs — nor, for that matter, the Canadian news outlets that quickly picked up on the furor — mention another key element of Burney’s staggering resume.

Burney has since 2005 served on the board of directors of TransCanada Corp., the company behind Keystone XL. He also owns shares of the company. Read more here.

(International Trade Talk – The Chamber of Commerce & Industry Western Australia)

Developing nations were the key drivers of growth in international trade for 2011, in spite of the volatility caused by the international financial crisis, according to a report published on Thursday by the International Chamber of Commerce.

This year’s ICC Global Survey on Trade and Finance – titled “Rethinking Trade and Finance” – notes that after a year of upheavals, annual trade volume growth for 2011 was 6.6 %, slightly above forecasts by the World Trade Organization. After positive growth prospects at the beginning of the year, a series of global shocks including the Arab Spring, the tsunami in Japan and the continuation of the global debt crises, resulted in an uneven performance for the year.

The survey, which provides some of the most important international data on trade finance, suggests that the current environment is dampening prospects for 2012, with annual trade growth forecast at 5.2 % this year, increasing to 7.2 % in 2013, according to the report. Read more here.

(Arirang News – Hwang Ji-hye)

Thirteen major ports in Korea have reported disruptions to their operations, on the second full day of a nationwide strike of truck drivers.

The Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs said on Tuesday that almost 16% of over 11-thousand cargo trucks nationwide were out of commission as of 10 p.m. Monday.

The ministry added however, that the rate is significantly lower compared to the truckers’ strike four years ago, when over 75% of the trucks were pulled off the road. Read more here.
 

(Financial Post – Gordon Isfeld)

Canadians shouldn’t feel “too smug” about the relative good shape of our economy.

Sure, we escaped much of the pain inflicted by the global financial crisis, and have so far managed a moderate recovery. But we still face some growing threats, both homegrown and imported, the Conference Board of Canada said Monday.

“It’s very easy to be self-congratulatory now,” said Glen Hodgson, the board’s senior vice-president and chief economist. “But before we get too smug, let’s take an honest look at our own policies and performance. We [will] quickly discover that Canada has challenges of its own.”

These challenges include weak productivity and poor innovation record, as well as an aging population. Add to those, of course, any shocks that could be yet to come from the dual debt-banking threats in Europe. Read more here.
 

(Journal of Commerce – Mike King)

Agreements would reduce supply chain disruption, TIACA says

Security regimes would cause less disruption to supply chains if more countries adopted mutual recognition agreements on air cargo security, according to The International Air Cargo Association.

TIACA said agreements between the EU, Switzerland and the U.S., and between the U.S. and Canada, that recognize each other’s security regimes has improved security without impeding international air cargo supply chains. Read more here.

(Link2)

A Unite spokesperson has warned that the import and export of perishable goods will be hit this week by striking cargo staff working for Swissport Cargo Services at Heathrow.

Unite’s 275 members at Swissport will be taking two three-day strikes – starting at 6.30am on Wednesday 27 June and ending at 6.29am on Saturday 30 June and then from 6.30am on Wednesday 4 July and concluding at 6.29am on Saturday 7 July. Read more here.
 

(Andy Hoffman – Globe & Mail)

Membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership could increase the size of Canada’s economy by as much as $9.9-billion (U.S.) or 0.5 per cent of annual gross domestic product by 2025, according to research on the fledgling Asian trade pact

Canada’s economic gains, however, would be much smaller than those derived by many of the other member countries in the proposed agreement, according to a research paper co-authored by Peter Petri, a professor at the Brandeis International Business School and Michael Plummer, a professor of international economics at the Johns Hopkins University. [...]

If successful, trade liberalization and tariff reductions achieved by the TPP could yield global income gains of $295-billion by 2025, including $78-billion for the United States, according to the paper. The paper suggests the TPP could boost Canadian exports by $15.7-billion or 2.6 per cent by 2025. U.S. exports would rise by 4.4 per cent under the same scenario. Read more here.
 

(CTV News)

Truck drivers crossing through U.S. borders are totally safe from radiation exposure, say American border officials.

The question was raised by a B.C. viewer whose truck driver brother makes daily trips into Washington State and has his cargo X-rayed.

He was worried because at the Abbotsford border crossing the truck driver is not allowed to come out of the vehicle while it is being X-rayed.

Steele on Your Side took the question to American border officials, who said there is no danger of truck drivers – or any drivers – being exposed to undue radiation while crossing at the border. Read more here.
 

(Thomas Walkom – Hamilton Spectator)

This week’s decision to let Canada into talks for a new Pacific free trade pact is both more and less than it seems.

It is less because Canada already has free trade agreements with four nations taking part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks — Mexico, Peru, Chile and the crucially important United States.

The remaining six — Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Brunei — aren’t giants of the world economy.

We could probably survive quite well without, say, a Canada-Vietnam free trade deal.

What is important about the proposed Trans-Pacific pact, however, is that it may end up becoming the world’s premier trade arrangement. Read more here.
 

(Buffalo News)

As executive director of the Binational Alliance, Arlene White looks at the U.S.-Canada border and sees growth potential. Her organization’s goal is to break down barriers to cross-border trade and tourism.

She says the two countries have much to capitalize on together, instead of competing with each other. The Fort Erie, Ont., resident applies the binational approach to her job, splitting time between offices in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, Ont.

Read the complete interview here.
 

An updated list of recently published government memorandums, notices, regulations and decisions for the week ending June 22, 2011 is now available on our website here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

A working group commissioned in November 2011 to examine ways to increase trade and investment between the United States and the European Union says a comprehensive agreement that addresses a broad range of bilateral trade and investment policies would provide the most significant benefits of the various options it has considered.

A final report with more definitive recommendations is expected by the end of this year. While officials from both sides have said that any effort to further liberalize trans-Atlantic trade should be as wide-ranging as possible, they have also cautioned that political and economic sensitivities could limit the scope of that effort. Prospects for negotiating a trade agreement could also depend on the outcome of this fall’s presidential and congressional elections in the U.S. as well as various other factors.

According to a preliminary report issued June 19, the working group has identified mutually beneficial areas in which the two sides could likely agree as well as certain areas in which further substantive work is required before a more definitive recommendation can be made. If these issues are addressed in a satisfactory manner, the working group envisions a comprehensive agreement with the following elements. Read more here.