BC No Winner in South Korea Trade Deal: Unifor Economist. Government upbeat, but Jim Stanford says the deal fails to fix existing trade imbalance. (its a zero sum game + losing formula - our low end commodity exports from Canada as they stack up to high value manufactured products from South Korea) A trade deal signed between Canada and South Korea wont do much for the British Columbian economy because many of the products which will see trade tariffs lifted didnt have high duties to begin with, according to Unifor economist Jim Stanford. The deal was signed this week and enjoys the support of the NDP, Liberals and Conservatives in the House of Commons. In a breakdown of the deals benefits for different regions of Canada, Ottawa claimed British Columbia stands to benefit significantly from the agreement. The breakdown said duty-free access for forestry and value-added wood products like lumber and particle board plus access to South Koreas government procurement market are some of the benefits for the province. On its website, the federal government further boasted a three per cent tariff on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will also be lifted, another big perk to the agreement for B.C. But Stanford, an economist for Canadas largest private-sector union, said the agreement does little to ease a quantitative and qualitative trade imbalance with the Asian nation. We export mostly raw material to Korea, and we import sophisticated high technology products from Korea, Stanford said. Canadas top four exports to Korea last year were coal, copper, aluminum and wood pulp. Our top four imports were motor vehicles, electronic circuits, auto parts and smartphones. Stanford said he expect the trade deficit to increase and for Canada and B.C. to remain in a trap of only exporting staples to countries that manufacture. thetyee.ca/News/2014/09/26/BC-No-Win-in-Korea-Trade-Deal/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=260914
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 19:07:17 +0000
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