A Post of Some Import

A lot of things going on in the world ...



Japan agrees to sign a new TPP pact, sans the US, in March:

Eleven countries aiming to forge an Asia-Pacific trade pact after the United States pulled out of an earlier version will sign an agreement in Chile in March, Japan's economy minister said on Tuesday, in a big win for Tokyo.

Trade officials had been meeting in Tokyo to resolve rifts including Canada's insistence on protections for its cultural industries such as movies, TV and music.

An agreement is a win for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, which has been lobbying hard to save the pact, originally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Japan can finally get into the swing of things but it is hardly a match for the unsanctioned China and its cheap knock-offs.


Also:

Some representatives of the Canadian auto industry slammed Canada’s decision to sign a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership on Tuesday, calling the deal harmful to the auto sector and warning that it undermines Canada’s position in NAFTA negotiations.

International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced Tuesday that Canada and the ten countries that remained in the deal after the U.S. backed out had agreed to sign the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

But the agreement was swiftly criticized by several representatives of the Canadian auto industry, including Flavio Volpe, president of the Auto Parts Manufacturers’ Association, who said in an interview with the Financial Post that “this could not be a worse time to make a dumb move.” Canada struck the TPP deal just as negotiators began the sixth — and pivotal — round of NAFTA talks in Montreal.

Volpe said the TPP agreement’s automotive rules of origin, which originally stipulated that vehicles must contain between 35 and 45 per cent TPP-produced content in order to gain duty-free access to the Canadian market, will make it easier for TPP countries to import vehicles to Canada while hampering the national auto industry’s ability to compete. At the same time, the U.S. has proposed increasing the North American content rule under NAFTA to 85 per cent, and introducing a U.S.-content rule of 50 per cent.

“That regional content means the majority of the parts and materials for vehicles can come from outside TPP countries — namely China — and you didn’t get anything in return,” Volpe said.

But ... but ... Canadian movies that Canadians don't even watch!
 


Trudeau's family wealth is placed in a trust:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a strong message to the global super rich on Tuesday that Canada won't be slashing taxes and regulatory red tape to compete with Donald Trump's America.

In an keynote speech to the World Economic Forum, Mr. Trudeau called on corporate chief executives to put workers before profits and take major steps to boost the role of women in the work force and tackle sexual harassment.

"Too many corporations have put the pursuit of profit before the well-being of their workers … but that approach won't cut it any more," Mr. Trudeau told the elite gathering at the chic ski resort of Davos. "We are in a new age of doing business – you need to give back."

(Sidebar: Whatever you say, Mr. Elbowgate-FGM. Is there a selfie of you and Soleiman Hajj Soleiman? One knows that there are photos of you and Joshua Boyle.)

 

Mr. Trudeau has been under pressure from Canada's business community to cut taxes and regulations to match the competitive reforms undertaken by U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress.

(Sidebar:  "Announcing in a recent public statement that more than one million American workers are receiving special bonuses in response to President Trump signing the act, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin called it “the most significant tax cuts and reform package in over three decades.”)

The Prime Minister, who also met with CEOs of several major multinationals on Tuesday to pitch for investment dollars in Canada, said too many people are being left behind by automation and globalization.

Yes, about that:

Consider the results from a recent empirical study—co-authored by leading minimum wage expert David Neumark—that explored the impact of minimum wage hikes in the U.S. on employment in automatable jobs (defined as jobs readily replaceable by machines) from 1980 to 2015. Specifically, the study measured the effect on low-skilled workers, defined as those having a high school diploma or less.

The study found minimum wage hikes result in low-skilled workers being less likely to find employment at an automatable job. It also found that those who had automatable jobs were less likely to stay employed after a minimum wage hike. Together, these findings suggest that low-skilled workers are vulnerable to automation after a minimum wage increase.

And of particular importance to the current $15-per-hour debate, the effect of minimum wage hikes on automatable jobs actually increased in recent years. As the authors of the study note, a growing number of jobs are becoming automatable due to technological advances.

By raising the minimum wage to $15, provincial governments are inadvertently giving low-skilled workers reason to fear the “rise of the machines.”

Also, his backers are quite keen on keeping their wealth as un-taxed as possible.


And:

Tom Gunton, director of the resource and environmental planning program at Simon Fraser University, said if the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, Keystone XL pipeline (from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf coast) and Enbridge Line 3 pipeline replacement project (from Alberta to Wisconsin) all proceed, there could be more pipelines than are necessary, especially when forecasts call for diminished supply growth.

He also said there was a failure to consider routes that bypass Lower Mainland municipalities altogether, including one through Washington state.

But NEB spokesman James Stevenson said the project’s feasibility and need were assessed in detail during the application phase of the project.

“Specifically, the board considered the availability of oil to the proposed pipeline, the existence of markets and economic feasibility. And in considering whether the project was in the public interest, the board concluded there would be a number of important benefits for Canada, including an increased access to diverse markets for Canadian oil, jobs, direct benefits and development as well as considerable government revenues.”

A spokeswoman for the project added that the project came about “in response to requests from oil shippers to help them reach new markets.”

And people thought that North Korea was no threat to them:

Ontario transit agency Metrolinx says it has been targeted by a cyberattack that originated in North Korea.

Spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins says no personal information was compromised and systems that operate its trains and buses were not affected.

Speaking of which:

Seoul's presidential Blue House rejected criticism on Tuesday that next month's Winter Games had been hijacked by North Korea, saying the event will help defuse tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

Of course it will. North Korea is very sincere in redefining itself:

In a move seen as a possible bid to steal some of the Olympic limelight and one that could jeopardize easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea has moved forward the date it will mark the 70th anniversary of its regular army’s founding to Feb. 8 — just a day before the Winter Games kick off in the South.

**

A Japanese patrol plane spotted contact between North Korean and Dominican Republic tankers in the East China Sea, raising suspicion of a possible transfer of cargo in violation of U.N. sanctions on the North, government sources have said.

 
And every regime needs its Walter Duranty:

NBC’s Lester Holt paid a visit to North Korea this week as part of the network’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, set to begin next month in South Korea, and in the process broadcast regime propaganda. ...

Holt was careful to say that he and his crew were “treated with respect” by North Korean officials in the broadcast. Perhaps that’s because, wittingly or not, he was happy to go along with what amounts to a piece of North Korean propaganda. Holt and his producers were even willing to let the Kim Jung Un regime provide a backdrop of seemingly carefree North Korean skiers for the segment.

I say propaganda because the entire Masikryong ski resort is a piece of regime propaganda. As the Daily Mail reported last year, the luxury resort was built to rival Pyeongchang in South Korea, which will host the Olympics in February. In North Korea, more than 40 percent of the population are malnourished and more than 70 percent rely on food-aid. There is no tourist industry to speak of. The only reason to build such a resort in such a country is to propagate a lie about the deplorable conditions there.

Disgusting.