While U.S. President Donald Trump has said his administration will "tweak" the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), what this means for the countries involved is left to interpretation.
On February 14, Ivey’s Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management’s released its latest study We Make Things Together, which discusses the trade interdependence between Ontario and each of the eight states making up the Great Lakes region (GLS8). The authors point out that many companies working in the Great Lakes region – both in Canada and in the U.S. – don’t simply export finished products back and forth. They make things together.
"Hampered trade will mean job loss, decreased economic output, higher costs of production, lower returns for investors, fewer choices and higher costs for consumers," the report said. "The manufacturing plants that ‘win’ through a thickening of the Canada-U.S. border are not in North America; rather, they are in Asia or Europe. Great Lakes firms may no longer be able to compete with low-cost, developing regions."
Note: Paywall
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