David Fickling notes:
“The main new
element – the abolition of a variety of milk Canada introduced last year to
support its domestic dairy industry – is ultimately an anti-protectionist move.
The main old element is some fiddling around Nafta’s rules on automotive trade
which, as we’ve argued previously, aren’t likely to change much.
That suggests an
emerging playbook for the Trump administration’s trade agreements. As with the
revised U.S.-South Korea deal announced last week, the achievement is declared
to be historic while the changes made are cosmetic. That dynamic bodes rather
well for the U.S.-Japan bilateral talks announced last week, not to mention the
simmering trade war with China.”
A Japan-U.S. pact looks like the opposite of free trade
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2018/09/27/commentary/japan-commentary/japan-u-s-pact-looks-like-opposite-free-trade/
Tariffs – Historical Lessons