What you should know about NAFTA renegotiations?

Source: Xinhuanet| 2017-08-22 13:33:58|Editor: Yamei

Voices from Canadian business owners

Dairy industry

Canadian business owners are hoping U.S. negotiators will be receptive to maintaining, if not improving, the current flow of goods and workers across the border.

Although the Canadian dairy industry was excluded from the original NAFTA deal in 1994, its supply management system for dairy has long been a point of contention with the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to push Canada for greater access to its markets for American dairy products in the NAFTA talks.

David Hans, a dairy farmer in Ontario told Xinhua that there is a lot of inaccuracy in the perception of unfairness on Canada's part.

He voiced his wish that Canadian dairy industry would remain out of NAFTA and that U.S. producers turn their focus on their domestic policies to control their problems with overproduction.

A staff member of Dairy Farmers of Ontario introduces dairy production procedures at Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Canada, on Aug. 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Haitao)

Softwood lumber

Feuds over softwood lumber also have been a recurring part of Canada-U.S. relations since the 1980s. Their root cause is U.S. industry's contention that Canada unfairly subsidizes its lumber by providing cheap access to public land. It's led to a cycle of American punitive action, followed by trade cases mostly won by Canada, and then a compromise settlement. The fifth and most recent lumber war was set off on April 24 this year when U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the U.S. would impose new anti-subsidy duties on Canadian softwood. The initial duties added up to about 20 percent, but a second wave of anti-dumping duties in late June brought that total to about 27 percent.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business: there is real concern among its members that any changes to NAFTA could have significant effects on their ability to sell goods and services abroad. Uncertainty in how the trading partners will have to do business makes it difficult for Canada's small business owners to plan for the future.

The federation quoted a farming business owner in British Columbia province as saying, "we are hoping that NAFTA remains relatively the same."

Logs are lifted for transportation at a lumber manufacturer of Murray Brothers Lumber Company in Ontario, Canada, on Aug. 16, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Haitao)

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