Are they Lutnik’s, Bessent’s, Navarro’s or Trump’s tariffs?Are they just a tool to bring to the table? Meet Stephen Miran, Chief Economic Advisor Miran’s Thesis: Why? Trump/Miran’s solution: “Gradual” Unilateral (“Reciprocal?”) tariffs. Miran’s Thesis was not “gradually implemented” Counterpoint: The USA manufacturing deficit has no direct correlation with the value Read more…
National US Trade Representative Estimate Report In short:Mexico has been uncooperative in some market access and energy/telecom investment issues as per USMCA. No extreme measures denying larger aspects of trade & investment. Non-Tariff Barriers, including Technical Barriers to Trade Other Technical Standards Intellectual Property Protections Services Barriers Investment Barriers to Energy, Read more…
“The Miller’s share” The maquiladora industry, started in the late 1960’s, whereby the foreign investor brings: The Maquiladora provider (independent entity or subsidiary also allowed), provides: GE LEGAL: The maquiladora industry, also known as export-oriented manufacturing, plays a crucial role in Mexico’s economy, particularly along the US-Mexico border, Bajio and Read more…
Are we closer to 2 bilateral trade agreements? “UMFTA” or “MUFTA” (US-Mexico Free Trade Agreement) or “CUSFTA” (Canada-US Free Trade Agreement)? There has been much ado about little this week on NAFTA 2.0. As Canada is put in a “take it or leave it” position just 3 days away from the Read more…
The experts’ consensus was that NAFTA 2.0 negotiations were going to be restarted in the fall of 2018, probably after the US mid-term elections in early November, especially since the US and China were slowly working out their differences during spring of 2018. Summer came and with it a worsening Read more…
Look for major decisions to be made in April or May that will decide the fate of NAFTA for good (or worse). The following timeline shows the key dates to look forward to this year regarding NAFTA: You can read more about Mexico’s potential new NAFTA negotiator Jesús Read more…
The operative word: China. Why? In 1994, China was a very small player in the world economy including NAFTA. After it’s accession to the WTO, it has managed to gain huge manufacturing surpluses both in the USA and Mexico. It has eaten up both US exports to Mexico and Mexican exports Read more…
(Updated on May 16th, 2018) The Trump Administration wants Rules of Origin in the automotive industry to be national and not trinational. That is contrary to the spirit of integration of NAFTA and it is going to be opposed by Mexico and Canada. Currently, NAFTA requires 62.5% of trinational integration Read more…