Canada has lost its first dispute under the new North American trade agreement as a tribunal agreed with a U.S. complaint that Canada broke a promise to allow slightly more dairy imports by imposing complicated rules. The U.S. says Canada now has several weeks to comply with the ruling but “the end goal is not to put retaliatory tariffs in place.” [node:read-more:link]
A Moscow court fined California-based Google the equivalent of US$98.4 million today over the company’s failure to delete locally-banned content. The penalty, based on Google’s revenues, is part of a campaign against large western technology companies, including demands that Russians’ personal data be stored on domestic servers. [node:read-more:link]
Mexico’s economic minister is planning a multi-front effort with her Canadian counterpart against a proposed U.S. electric vehicle tax credit which poses a significant threat to Canadian and Mexican automotive industries. Both ministers say the plan, which seems stalled in Congress for now, say the proposal breaches the North American free trade pact. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. is being pressed bb Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Trade Minister Mary Ng to back away from a proposed tax credit for electric vehicles made exclusively in the U.S. They say in a letter to Senators considering the draft legislation that it poses “a significant threat” to Canadian automakers and Canada is prepared to impose countermeasures on imports from the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Britain’s International Trade Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, has warned the U.S. that it risks retaliation if it does not lift tariffs on imports of British steel. “We had a very frank conversation,” she said after talks in Washington with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “I was very clear that the pressures we are under to use countervailing measures if we can't solve the problem are becoming more acute.” [node:read-more:link]
One of Canada’s most enduring trade disputes, over softwood lumber exports to the U.S., ratcheted up Nov. 24 when the U.S. doubled its protective duties to an average 17.9 per cent. Now well into its third decade, the dispute is the result of the U.S. lumber lobby trying to protect domestic suppliers who have been historically unable to meet demand in the housing sector. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. confirmed today that it would release 50 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of an international attempt to drive down prices. The initiative is being done in concert with releases by Britain, China, Japan and South Korea after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries opted not to increase output. [node:read-more:link]
Ministers responsible for foreign affairs and development in the G7 group of nations are scheduled to meet Dec. 10-12 in Britain Dec. 10 to Dec. 12 together with some ministers from countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations. The British Foreign Office’s draft agenda includes talks on economic resilience after COVID-19, global health and human rights. [node:read-more:link]
The Canada Border Services Agency recently prevented two shipments of imported goods linked to forced labour from entering the country. It was the first time the federal government has activated a tariff which took effect in July 20210 with ratification of the latest North American trade pact. [node:read-more:link]
U.S. President Joe Biden used a virtual meeting to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on human rights and trade but Xi, who has not left his country in nearly two years, warned against what he said is continued U.S. provocations over Taiwan. Xi likened the two countries “giant ships sailing in the sea” which needed steady hands to avoid a collision. [node:read-more:link]
A Chinese company’s attempt to acquire Argentinian lithium mining rights held by a Canadian company has sparked a bidding war. Contemporary Amperes Technology’s initial bid for Vancouver-based Millennial Lithium resulted in a competing offer by Lithium Americas, also headquartered in Vancouver. The resource at stake is a believed to have enough to yield 24,000 tonnes annually of the technologically-critical metal for 40 years. [node:read-more:link]
An inaugural transatlantic Trade and Technology Council meeting went ahead today despite resistance in France, which remains angry over losing a nuclear submarine contract. Senior European Union and U.S. officials were discussing a range of issues, including the global semiconductor shortage, artificial intelligence and competition. [node:read-more:link]
Britain’s post-Brexit trade agreement with the European Union has been approved in a 521-73 vote in the House of Commons, a day before Britain’s formal Dec. 31 withdrawal from the EU. Negotiated over the past nine months, the deal sets out a new economic and security relationship. [node:read-more:link]
China has applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership which involves Canada, Australia and eight other countries. The application last week by Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, four years after the U.S. bailed out during the Trump administration, is seen as a bid to improve regional relationships [node:read-more:link]
In a report with potentially catastrophic consequences for the global petroleum sector if governments acted on their report, a team of researchers says that if global warming is to be contained, nearly 60 per cent of the planet's remaining oil and natural gas and 90 per of coal reserves should be left in the ground by mid-century. [node:read-more:link]
