A big agreement was just made between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
It’s complicated–too complicated to explain fully here–but it’s good to have an idea about what it is and why it is important.
Back in 1994, the US, Canada and Mexico made a deal to all become “trading partners.” That means, each country would partner with the others to make it easy to buy and sell things and services back and forth. That deal was called NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.
When countries don’t have a deal like that, it’s sometimes hard for one country to sell things to another country.
Tag: trade
Canada to Lead Trade Missions for Women, LGBTQI, Indigenous Businesses
The Canadian government is going to help businesses owned by women, Indigenous peoples, and LGBTQI people (LGBTQI means lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning and intersex people).
The government will create “trade missions” to support their businesses.
A trade mission is when one country — in this case Canada — travels to another country in order to talk about increasing the amount of business between the two countries.
Typically, business owners and government officials go to another country, and meet with business owners and government officials there. They discuss ways the countries can work together.
Canada Makes A New Trade Deal With The EU
Canada has a new deal with the European Union. The agreement is expected to increase the amount of trade between Canada and many countries in Europe.
Trade, in this case, is when one country buys something from another country and vice-versa.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the new deal could increase trade by 20 per cent, beginning in 2015, and add $12-billion to Canada’s income (the money it makes) each year.
The new trade deal is called CETA, which stands for Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
It is expected to create 80,000 new jobs in Canada.
Canada and the European Union have been working on the new trade deal for the past four years.
Canada’s largest trading partner is the United States, but increased trade with other partners is good so Canada is not as dependent on any single country.
Canada Trading More With India, China
Canada has always done a lot of trading with the United States, the biggest buyer of the products and natural resources it sells.
But now companies in Canada are finding other countries to trade with, like India and China.
A new report written by experts at one of Canada’s biggest banks says that by the end of this decade — the year 2020 — Canada will only trade about 60 per cent of its goods with its neighbouring country, the United States. That’s down from 75 per cent right now.
