GHY Tradelines

(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.