POLI 243 Lecture Notes - Brian Mulroney, Free Trade, Free-Trade Area
Document Summary
Tied to the international economy; large proportion of economic activity of gdp is related to trade one way or another. Canada is going to be concerned at the broader environment at the system level to sustain trade. This is not particularly true for the us. Us only has around 10% of its production tied up with trade. Post world war ii: gatt and the auto pact. Canada gains from this without agreements of reciprocity. Gatt: members were interested in lowering tariffs slowly. Agreement between canada us for firms with regard to inputs. The firms are interested want to integrate production. Many countries want to pursue free trade but new members make negotiations complicated. Canada has a lot of stake in gatt. They need that access to the american market. Bilateralism gave a bargaining advantage to the united states. If it was one vs one, us holds sway.