[AicapAifap] New York-Canada trade tension growing

Thu Feb 15 13:22:52 PST 2018

New York-Canada trade tension growing
Trump's new trade tariffs on Canadian goods could hurt New York's
economy
By Brian Nearing Updated 12:10 am, Sunday, February 11, 2018 
A truck carrying wood goes through the customs checkpoint, Tuesday,
April 25, 2017 in Champlain, N.Y. Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau says that Canada and the U.S. could suffer from what he called
a "thickening" border, a day after the Trump administration imposed
new tariffs on softwood lumber. Trudeau was responding to the
announcement of new U.S. duties of up to 24 percent on softwood lumber
entering from Canada. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)
Albany
Newspapers are just one of the pieces of the trade tensions that
appear to be growing between the U.S., New York, and the state's
largest trading partner, Canada.
As the administration of President Donald Trump continues contentious
negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement with trade
officials from Canada and Mexico, the president last month slapped a
6.5 percent tariff — a kind of a tax — on imported newsprint from
Canada, which the Times Union uses in its press.
And last week, the leader of Ontario vowed to push a law that could
restrict New York companies from bidding on billions of dollars of
government contracts in that Canadian province in retaliation for a
''Buy American'' program signed two months ago by Gov. Andrew Cuomo
for major state road and bridge projects.
To Khawar Nasim, a Canadian diplomat who visited the Capital Region
last week, these are increasingly perilous times for economic ties
between Canada and New York, which have a trading relationship
currently worth more than $30 billion a year.
More than 700 Canadian-owned companies employ more than 72,000 people
in New York with combined payrolls of more than $4 billion, according
to Canadian government figures. About 400,000 people cross the New
York-Canadian border every day, many of them on business.
Trump has been critical of the 23-year-old NAFTA pact with Canada and
Mexico, and has threatened to withdraw from it as his administration
continues to negotiate potential changes with those two countries. He
has blamed the agreement for destroying America jobs.
"Protectionist sentiments are beginning to emerge in the U.S., as well
as Europe," said Nasim, who is the Canadian deputy consul general for
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. He said
that could choke off cross-border trade, costing jobs and raising
consumer prices in both countries, particularly in New York.
Nasim said the recent Trump decision to tax Canadian newsprint exports
to the U.S. can only increase tension over the ongoing NAFTA
negotiations, which were already under pressure from a Canadian trade
complaint last month to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that
alleged unfair U.S. global trade practices.
"We have to respond, when we have been pushed," said Nasim, who has
represented Canadian trade interests abroad, including in Europe and
the Far East, since the early 1990s, broken by a stint working for a
major Canadian gold company. "When we take our past complaints (to the
WTO), we win," he added.
At the Port of Albany, Michele Tosini is also watching with some
alarm. He is a vice president with Montreal-based Federal Marine
Terminals, which last year signed a 10-year agreement to operate the
port, with an option for an added 15 years.
"Although we are following the ongoing NAFTA negotiations very
closely, our concerns lie more with the protectionist sentiment we
detect from the current U.S. government, and the potential trade
barriers, tariffs, dues and quotas that might be imposed on
trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific trade," he said.
He said that could affect some of the products handled at Albany's
port, such as wood pulp or scrap metal. Another major export out of
the port has been gas and wind turbines made by General Electric.
A spokesman for General Electric declined comment when asked about the
impact of potential trade barriers on its Albany exports, instead
referring a reporter to a blog post last summer by GE Vice President
Karan Bhatia, who wrote that NAFTA was positive for the U.S. and noted
that Canada and Mexico are both top 10 export markets for GE.
In New York, farm and business groups, including the Business Council
and the Farm Bureau, have warned the Trump administration against
damaging the New York-Canada trade relationship. Business Council
leaders met with Nasim during his visit here, said council spokesman
Zack Hutchins, whose group represents 2,400 large and medium-sized
businesses from across the state.
If NAFTA were to collapse, it would be bad news for both the U.S. and
Canada, according to a November survey of investment professionals by
the Trade Leadership Coalition. The survey represents managers from
companies that handle more than $2 trillion in total investments.
More than 80 percent of those professionals said the impact on Canada
would be "negative" or "very negative." That same survey said the
impact of NAFTA withdrawal on the U.S. would be more negative than
positive by a 62 percent to 12 percent margin. The rest — 26 percent
— said it would have little or no impact.
Canada is a major market for New York agricultural exports, including
milk and other dairy products, accounting for 44 percent of all farm
exports from the state, according to a U.S. Farm Bureau study
published in November.
"We have remained engaged on trade issues," said Farm Bureau
communications manager Steve Ammerman. "We have some members in
Washington, D.C. talking to their representatives."
Congressman John Faso, a Kinderhook Republican and member of the House
of Representative's Agriculture Committee, said he has met with
Canadian trade officials over their concerns. He said the state's
farms and businesses benefit from Canadian trade, accounting for about
600,000 trade-related jobs
Calling the Trump administration's trade stance "unnecessarily
negative," Faso said that "trade cannot be reduced to slogans ...
Trade can be broadly misinterpreted, and especially in times of
economic difficulty, some people want to look for scapegoats."
bnearing at timesunion.com • 518-454-5094 • @Bnearing10
https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/New-York-Canada-trade-tension-growing-12575252.php
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