A local member of Parliament is not a fan of the new trade agreement between the major North American nations.
Cheryl Hardcastle, the NDP MP for Windsor-Tecumseh, provided her take on the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The agreement was signed in principle last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Donald Trump and now-former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, during the G-20 Summit in Argentina.
The agreement is still subject to approval by the legislatures of all three countries. Speaking to reporters in Windsor last week following a conference on convenience stores, Hardcastle said Canada missed the boat when it came to USMCA.
"This is some of the stuff that we thought, we went into it approaching it as 'You're going to open up NAFTA again? Good, here's some things we can improve upon,'" said Hardcastle. "That was the opportunity for us. We missed the opportunity. Epic, epic fail."
Hardcastle specifically alluded to Canada Post, which she said can be a moneymaker based on its parcel delivery business alone, but the USMCA calls for added duty if Canada Post ships parcels to Canadians that were purchased online in the U.S., Mexico and other countries.
The MP also pointed out that the ongoing tariff tiff with the Trump administration has not been dealt with, an issue that affects the auto industry and manufacturing in the Windsor-Essex area.
"We have extenuating issues with the aluminum and steel tariffs, and these should have been addressed," said Hardcastle. "It's more erosion as we're learning more and more about the USMCA. It is getting more and more disconcerting."
Trudeau had personally asked Trump at the G-20 Summit to reconsider the tariffs. Trump had been adamant that the tariffs were necessary to encourage investment in American companies.
Hardcastle's colleague in Ottawa, Essex MP Tracey Ramsey of the NDP, is the international trade critic.
