United States Canadian Trade Policies

"International trade and investment are central to economic prosperity. But new global realities, including rising antitrade sentiment, are challenging long-held policy approaches in these areas. With the global trading system at a critical juncture, now is the time to examine new trade realities and explore appropriate responses. In this volume, the culmination of a comprehensive interdisciplinary research initiative, the Institute for Research on Public Policy has brought together groundbreaking contributions from more than thirty experts in eight different countries. Together, they analyze how longer-term changes and emerging trends in international commerce, technology and economic power are affecting Canada, and what these changes mean for public policy. The authors take an in-depth, firm-level look at Canada's trade, and assess its integration in global value chains. They provide a rigorous analytical framework, supported by new empirical evidence, that will help readers better understand the global economy. Among the topics they examine are the new business models driving the more fragmented and global nature of production; the technological developments that are allowing new traders to expand their reach; and the shift in economic activity toward emerging markets that is dispersing power and raising new challenges for trade negotiations. The editors' conclusion distills the research findings into a forward-looking policy agenda for more inclusive trade." --

"Canada is a relatively small, open economy with a large amount of foreign trade relative to its gross national product. The majority of that trade - over 70 percent - is with the United States. Policies that either limit or encourage foreign trade are therefore more important for Canada than for many other countries."--

This document discusses the challenge from Mexico, the North American trade regime, North American trade and investment patterns, and issues and options for the future. It also examines what is involved in a tripartite agreement.

During the past thirty years, international trade agreements have focused increasingly on areas of provincial jurisdiction. In The Provinces and Canadian Foreign Trade Policy, Kukucha argues that Canadian provinces have maintained a level of autonomy in response to these developments, sometimes even influencing Canada's global trade relations and the evolution of international norms and standards. The first comprehensive review of provincial foreign trade policy in Canada, the book highlights the convergence of debates related to federalism, Canadian foreign policy, and the global political economy as they are played out in the negotiation and implementation of international trade agreements. It will be of interest to students and practitioners of political science, public policy, and economics.

A joint conference was held in Washington in January, 1988, to assess the major features of the agreement. This volume includes the papers prepared for that conference, and the remarks of discussants on each paper. Includes a US and Canadian perspective, dispute resolution mechanisms, the auto sector, implications of the energy provisions, services and investment, implications for the Uruguay round, and the political perspectives from a Canadian government minister and a US administration representative.

Canada is the largest trading partner of the United States, and the two governments have begun negotiations for a free trade agreement which would tie their relationship even closer. This study analyzes the difficult problems that must be addressed in the negotiations - including quite different perceptions in the two countries of what constitutes fair trade. It suggests several possible ways of reducing differences over subsidies and countervailing duties. It also addresses the exchange rate relationship between the two dollars, and how this affects the trade outlook. An appendix by John Williamson calculated a fundamental equilibrium exhange rate for the Canadian dollar.