David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Methinks I should remind some folks what I said about NAFTA in 2015 and also back in 2004 N'esy Pas?
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/11/methinks-i-should-remind-some-folks.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/usmca-nieto-trudeau-trump-signing-1.4926961
'Battle' over as Trudeau, Trump, Pena Nieto sign 'new NAFTA'
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Ashley Zacharias
Until this treaty is ratified
by all three countries, which is no sure thing, it has no force under
law. This is just an empty photo op and I won't be paying any attention
to it.
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Roberto bonami
Roberto bonami
@Ashley Zacharias they are signing this morning, the orange Cheeto needs a distraction from his crimes and mueller
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Paul Knapp
Paul Knapp
@Ashley Zacharias, until this deal is ratified the original NAFTA agreement is in place.
Content disabled.
David Amos
David Amos
@Paul Knapp Methinks I should remind some folks what I said about NAFTA in 2015 and also back in 2004 N'esy Pas?
Starting at about the 32 minute mark of this debate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cFOKT6TlSE
This a portion of a story that appeared in the Kings County Record on June 22, 2004
The Unconventional Candidate
By Gisele McKnight
"FUNDY—He has a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket, a chain on his wallet, a beard at least a foot long, 60 motorcycles and a cell phone that rings to the tune of "Yankee Doodle."
Meet the latest addition to the Fundy ballot—David Amos. The independent candidate lives in Milton, Massachusetts with his wife and two children, but his place of residence does not stop him from running for office in Canada."
"Amos, 52, is running for political office because of his dissatisfaction with politicians. "I've become aware of much corruption involving our two countries," he said. "The only way to fix corruption is in the political forum."
"What he's fighting for is the discussion of issues – tainted blood, the exploitation of the Maritimes' gas and oil reserves and NAFTA, to name a few.
"The political issues in the Maritimes involve the three Fs – fishing, farming and forestry, but they forget foreign issues," he said. "I'm death on NAFTA, the back room deals and free trade. I say chuck it (NAFTA) out the window.
NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement which allows an easier flow of goods between Canada, the United States and Mexico."
'Battle' over as Trudeau, Trump, Pena Nieto sign 'new NAFTA'
USMCA, which Canada will call CUSMA, still not assured as ratification process heads to U.S. Congress
The road to rewrite the North American trade agreement was a "battle," U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto joined him for a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.
Nevertheless, "battles sometimes make great friendships, so it's really terrific," Trump said as the other two leaders looked on uneasily from behind podiums with the American presidential seal on the front.
Official text for the deal Trump has named the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) has now been signed by all three countries.
Canada will change the order of the countries in its legal version of the name, putting Canada first (CUSMA). Trudeau referred to the deal Friday morning as the "new NAFTA."
Trump felt strongly about changing the agreement's name when his administration reworked the deal. He continued to refer to NAFTA as "terrible" on social media after the signing ceremony, saying "it will soon be gone."
Normal practice requires that each country puts its own name first in multilateral treaties. That is why Canada says “Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement” but Chile says “Tratado de Libre Comercio Chile-Canadá.” Also why Mexico will call new NAFTA “TMEUC”. It has always been thus.
At the signing ceremony, Trudeau said the deal's completion lifts the economic uncertainty created by the acrimonious 15-month negotiation process, an uncertainty that "only would have gotten worse" had the parties not reached a new agreement.
Both Trump and Trudeau noted the deal was signed on Pena Nieto's final day in office, and thanked him for his work.
A new Mexican president was elected last summer and will be sworn in Saturday.
Tariffs still in place
The signing followed days of speculation over whether Canada would sign the deal at all, and over whether it might be signed by an official more junior than the prime minister.
On the one hand, the Trudeau government wanted to register its displeasure at signing a free trade deal while billions of dollars worth of tariffs remain on goods being traded between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
All those tariffs remain in place — much to the displeasure of both Canadian and Mexican governments.
"Donald, it's all the more reason why we need to keep working to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum between our countries," Trudeau said. Trump gave a slight nod but otherwise stared straight ahead.
USTR Robert Lighthizer is holding an off camera press briefing, and he says steel and aluminum tariffs remain in place. Says there are negotiations but ultimately want to protect Trump’s steel and aluminum programs they see as successful.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reporters after the ceremony that the U.S. believes its tariff protections have been successful — even in the face of World Trade Organization challenges from Canada and others over its use of "national security" provisions to prop up sometimes less-competitive domestic industries.
Freeland was asked about the Americans continuing to claim their tariffs are legitimate. "Canada disagrees with that point of view," the minister said.
CBC News
Freeland on supply management and the CUSMA
Foreign MInister Chrystia Freeland explains how the new trade deal will affect supply management of Canadian dairy products. 1:17
'Concession after concession'
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, campaigning in a by-election on behalf of his candidate in Kemptville, Ont., said Trudeau's decision to participate in the ceremony while tariffs are still in place is "one more final humiliation."
"It's clear he capitulated. He signed concession after concession after concession," Scheer said. "The Americans are counting their victories in what they got from Canada and Trudeau is counting his victories in what he didn't have to give away."
CBC News
Conservative leader reacts to new NAFTA signing
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer calls today's signing a capitulation by Justin Trudeau. 0:52
During question period in the House of Commons Friday, New Democrats also accused Trudeau of surrendering Canada's sovereignty and kneeling before Donald Trump.
National dairy organizations wrote Trudeau Thursday and urged him not to sign. When the Americans posted the text of the agreement online two months ago, it included dairy concessions that Canadian negotiators told industry representatives they never approved at the table.
The Canadian government posted its official legal text Friday in both languages. The agriculture chapter was rewritten somewhat during the legal vetting process — but that doesn't appear to have alleviated the industry's fear that the U.S. strong-armed its way to getting more than Canada intended to give up.
Low-key signing
Canadian officials in the room Friday characterized their mood as more of relief than celebration, and said their team was disappointed that the steel and aluminum tariffs have not been lifted.
In the end, the ceremony was brief: short remarks from all three leaders before they sat together at the table and signed.
The audience then rose to leave, obscuring the view of each country's responsible ministers as they continued to sign other documents related to the agreement. They include a critical side letter on the automotive sector that could ensure Canada avoids punitive tariffs on its car exports to the U.S. if the Trump administration proceeds with threats to begin taxing foreign vehicles and automotive parts at up to 25 per cent.
CBC News
Highlights from 'New NAFTA' signing ceremony
Leaders of Canada, U.S. and Mexico sign new trade agreement on the sidelines of this weekend's G20 summit in Argentina 0:46
On Saturday, he will be replaced by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador — known as AMLO, for short — a left-wing politician who has often questioned the value of the original NAFTA and international trade generally.
Nevertheless, the incoming Mexican administration has said it will not stand in the way of the agreement negotiated by its predecessor. Lopez Obrador had a representative in the room through the final, tense weeks of the negotiations.
Difficult ratification expected in U.S.
The agreement now proceeds to ratification in each country. In Canada, implementation legislation will be drafted for Parliament; after it is reviewed, debated and passed, the federal cabinet will ratify the treaty.
Mexican legislators will also vote on the deal, but they're expected to approve it.
The situation is far less certain in the U.S., where an acrimonious debate is expected thanks to a Trump-unfriendly Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, elected in November's midterms.
Under the rules set for fast-tracking trade agreements through Congress, however, changes to the agreement are not supposed to be made now that a legally scrubbed text has been signed by all three countries.
Lighthizer said Friday that the Americans have negotiated what they believe is a "bipartisan agreement," designed to win more than enough votes to pass.
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