The United States, Mexico and Canada on Tuesday vowed to tighten economic ties, producing more goods regionally and boosting semiconductor output, even as integration is hampered by an ongoing dispute over Mexico’s nationalist energy policies.
Lopez Obrador said Mexico would help Biden clamp down on the trade in synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is blamed for thousands of U.S. deaths, as the leaders also promised to reduce their countries’ carbon footprint and tackle inflation.
“We’re working to a future to strengthen our cooperation on supply chains and critical minerals so we can continue to accelerate in our efforts to build the technologies of tomorrow – right here in North America,” Biden said in a joint news conference with his fellow leaders after their meeting.
Lopez Obrador said the region would promote economic development by creating a committee for import substitution to make North America less dependent on other parts of the world.
The White House said the three countries would improve legal pathways for migrants, and Lopez Obrador again urged Biden to press Congress to enact measures that would regularize the migration status of millions of Mexicans in the United States.
The United States said the region would in early 2023 organize a semiconductor forum to increase investment in the strategic high-tech industry dominated by Asia.
The White House said coordination would be needed on semiconductor supply chain mapping to identify needs and investment opportunities in making chips that are used in everything from telecoms to carmaking and defense.
Mexico’s hopes of benefiting from the push to boost semiconductor output have been undermined by the energy dispute, with Washington and Ottawa starting formal dispute settlement proceedings against Mexico’s policies in July.
The spat, which centers on Mexico’s efforts to give priority to its cash-strapped, state-run energy companies at the expense of private investors, was being closely watched at the summit. The leaders did not answer questions on it at the news conference.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard had suggested energy would not feature prominently in Tuesday’s talks, noting that a resolution process was under way and the three leaders did not want to turn the summit into a dispute panel.
“I wouldn’t imagine it’s a major issue in today’s summit,” he told Mexican radio, while noting Trudeau was likely to raise the matter in separate talks with Lopez Obrador on Wednesday.
Migration discussed
The Biden administration has focused much of its attention with Mexico on containing illegal crossings at the southern U.S. border, and policy analysts argue Washington is often reluctant to let other issues complicate dealings on migration.
On Monday, Canadian International Trade Minister Mary Ng put across her country’s concerns about Mexico’s energy policies and their potential effects on Canadian investments in a meeting with Mexican Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro.
Ng said it was important to find a “mutually acceptable resolution” to the dispute, and also flagged concerns about the treatment of Canadian mining companies in Mexico.
Biden and Trudeau met earlier on Tuesday, and the U.S. leader said he would visit Canada in March, according to the White House. As their meeting started, Biden said the region should aim to be “the clean energy powerhouse in the world.”
Biden also stressed “strengthening our supply chains so that no one can arbitrarily hold us up.”
Under the North American Drug Dialogue (NADD), the three countries would adopt an “updated strategic framework” to address threats posed by banned narcotics, the White House said. This would include greater information-sharing on chemicals used to make drugs including fentanyl.
The White House said the three were also committed to curbing methane emissions from solid waste and wastewater by at least 15% by 2030 from 2020 levels.
They would also create a virtual platform to give migrants streamlined access and information on legal ways to enter Mexico, the United States, and Canada and make them less likely to rely on smugglers, it said.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Diego Ore, Raul Cortes, Steve Scherer, Liz Diaz, Stephen Eisenhammer, Ismail Shakil, and Tim AhmannEditing by Alexandra Hudson, Alistair Bell, Grant McCool and Leslie Adler)
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the country’s merchandise trade deficit narrowed to $1.3 billion in September as imports fell more than exports.
The result compared with a revised deficit of $1.5 billion for August. The initial estimate for August released last month had shown a deficit of $1.1 billion.
Statistics Canada says the results for September came as total exports edged down 0.1 per cent to $63.9 billion.
Exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products fell 5.4 per cent as exports of unwrought gold, silver, and platinum group metals, and their alloys, decreased 15.4 per cent. Exports of energy products dropped 2.6 per cent as lower prices weighed on crude oil exports.
Meanwhile, imports for September fell 0.4 per cent to $65.1 billion as imports of metal and non-metallic mineral products dropped 12.7 per cent.
In volume terms, total exports rose 1.4 per cent in September while total imports were essentially unchanged in September.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
