Free Republic

OTTAWA — From the get-go, the Liberal government’s goal in rewriting NAFTA was to get a “progressive” trade deal for Canada that was “free and fair.” So did it? While there are lots of ways to tally the winners — and losers — in the new United States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA, one is to look at the six objectives that Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland herself articulated on the eve of the renegotiation. [photo caption] As part of the trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico, Canada will ease protections on dairy. [photo credit: CHRISTINNE MUSCHI THE NEW...

Bringing it in just under the wire, negotiators representing Mexico, Canada, and the United States announced a new trade deal, to be named the USMCA, on Sunday, September 30, enabling the replacement for NAFTA for which many have long clamored. With the agreement to switch to this new program, the three nations are taking some steps – however small – back in the direction of the goals that Free Trade Agreements have always promised to support, but which have been largely forgotten in the quest for their side effects. Free Trade Agreements, in fact, are not designed to reduce taxes...

Bae Yong Joon may be one of the few oenophiles still living in Korea based on wine's dropping popularity on the peninsula. (Photo courtesy of Arnaldo Bassini) Wine sales in Korea are continuing to decline according to a Dec. 8 Korea Times article. The Korea Customs Service told the Times that 2009 (at least the first 10 months) was the first year they noticed a decline in wine sales in Korea since the Asian financial crisis reached its zenith in 1998. However, the South Korean government expect wine imports from Europe and South America to improve after recently signed free-trade...

Trade: Colombia got another brushoff Tuesday, when Commerce Secretary Gary Locke pronounced its free trade pact dead for the year because Washington is too busy with health care. Why doesn't Cuba ever hear that? Speaking at the sidelines of a conference in Chile, Locke told Dow Jones: "It's pretty doubtful that the pact will be ratified this year, although the Obama administration is pushing forward with Colombia, Korea and Panama." Yeah, sure. Pushing and pushing, it's all we've heard about from this crew. But the only visible moves on trade have a string of protectionist measures to make Big Labor...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Thursday that a free trade agreement with the U.S. stands as is, resolving to resist possible calls to redo the deal by the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama. "I repeat that there will be no renegotiation, whether it's automobiles or any other issue," said Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, according to a transcript of an interview with local radio network KBS. "We will respond by sticking to such a stance."Kim's comments came one day after his deputy Lee Hye-min told reporters that reconsidering the already signed agreement would be like opening a...

History has taught us that other than raising taxes, nothing can be more damaging to the United States than assuming a protectionist posture during a time of economic downturn.  But that’s exactly the situation after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to bar a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Colombia Free Trade It is important the United States gains equitable access to the markets of fast-growing developing nations like Colombia.  Colombian-produced goods already enter the United States duty free, but American-manufactured goods exported to that country face stiff tariffs, ranging from eight percent to...

President Roh Moo-hyun is facing a formidable challenge to his rule through the intensifying nationwide movement against a free trade agreement between Korea and the United States. Most embarrassingly, the president finds many of his hitherto trusted supporters among the ranks of anti-FTA forces accusing him of selling the nation out to the U.S. Since entering Cheong Wa Dae [assuming office], the progressive president has followed policies favoring the poorer citizens which are considered unkind to the richer sector. Now, all lower echelons in Korea's economic pyramid have turned their backs on the president. Notable among some 300 anti-FTA civic...

Is Labour about to change the nuclear policy? Inquiries by "The Letter" reveal that the issue has not been debated within the party but in the Byzantine government of Helen Clark, that means little. Last week’s snap decision to send Te Kaha and an Orion to the Gulf war was not discussed. The Letter believes that a ‘finesse’ of New Zealand nuclear free legislation to enable a nuclear powered ship to visit is being seriously considered. Consider the evidence. Labour wants a Free Trade Agreement [FTA] with the US and the cost is a change to the nuclear free law....

Sixty-nine workers at the Orleans plant and 154 workers at the Randolph plant of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. will lose their jobs effective July 19... If they can get the same job done cheaper in China, there is no barrier to move production to China. (There is) no incentive to keep it in the United States," he said. .. As for how Ethan Allen is doing financially, profits for the company have risen 15 percent over the past year, according to the Bloomberg News archive... Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans said Vermont workers are experiencing first-hand the results of the North...