U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, hosted a meeting for North America’s Industry Ministers.  Tony Clement, Canada’s Minister of Industry, and Bruno Ferrari, Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, were in attendance.  They discussed the importance of trilateral cooperation on issues such as the National Export Initiative.  The leaders agreed to identify ways to encourage small and medium-sized firms to export their goods and services.  Secretary Locked added:

Canada, the United States, and Mexico have a sophisticated and robust trade relationship because of NAFTA… Because our businesses already cooperate in the production of goods and delivery of services, we must work together to develop strategies that will benefit these businesses and the workers of this region.

According to American Shipper, trilateral trade among the NAFTA partners totaled more than $735 billion in 2009.  (An increase of 148% since the year before NAFTA’s implementation.)

The talks will cover investments and industry sectors excluded from previous agreements, making it potentially the most comprehensive bilateral trade agreement ever reached – wider than the EU-South Korea deal.

Talks will being in Ottawa on Monday, with the aims of finalizing the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, in 2011.

According to EuropeanVoice.com:

Hopes of success have been bolstered by the presence of Canada’s provinces, which have, in the past, been unenthusiastic about free trade with the EU. Their involvement is crucial, since it is the provinces that undertake the bulk of government procurement, a huge potential market for transatlantic trade. They also have wide competences in the labour market.

Earlier this year, the Council of the Federation, a conference of Canada’s provinces and territories, pledged to support trade talks with the EU. The council has a history of opposing public procurement provisions, such as those initially part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

On 1 October, Jean Charest, the prime minister of Québec province and a member of Canada’s negotiating team, said that the participation of the provinces had convinced the EU that talks might succeed. The EU would like to use an agreement with Switzerland as a template for guaranteeing mutual open access to public procurement.

Carl Bildt, Sweden’s foreign minister, said after a meeting with Lawrence Cannon, his Canadian counterpart, on 1 October that the state of the world economy made a commitment to free-trade important.

Relations between the two sides are generally good but have been overshadowed this year by a Canadian decision to impose a visa requirement on Czech citizens and by a ban on seal products championed by the European Parliament.

Read more at EuropeanVoice.com: Talks to start on trade deal with Canada.

Canada’s forestry, manufacturing and agriculture sectors are expected to benefit from duty-free access.

In return, Canada will give the Mideast country preferential trade conditions, including full exemption from customs duties for Jordanian goods.

The deal is expected to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries later this year.

Canada also signed three related deals on labor cooperation, the environment, and foreign investment promotion and protection.

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Most experts agree that this is incorrect and it’s actually too difficult to buy an “American” product as most of the items manufactured here are also created from components from other countries.

And, looking back to the Great Depression, protectionism (exemplified by the Smoot Hawley Act) only worsened the situation.

“Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day asked U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk today to “explore” such a deal, which would permit Canadian suppliers to continue to bid for U.S. local and municipal governments, despite “Buy American” provisions in the current U.S. economic stimulus plan. The two countries already have an agreement governing reciprocal access to government contracts on a federal level.

Although the idea has been widely discussed, this is the first time that the Canadian government has brought the idea directly to the Obama administration.”

Canada, as one of the largest trading partners with the US, is influencing the policymakers to at least encourage trade with our neighbors up north by including Canadian access to the federal stimulus contracts.

Am I the only one that’s lost here? So, buying from Canada is OK, but when we buy from Mexico, Central America, Europe, or anywhere else it hurts our manufacturers and eliminates jobs… mmmkayyy…

Read more at the Journal of Commerce: Canada Asks for Talks on ‘Buy American’ Issue