MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Trade negotiators from Canada and the United States gathered under rainy skies in Mexico City on Friday to discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement, with the mood darkened by U.S. President Donald Trump's persistent threats to pull out.
Teams from the three countries were due to kick off a second round of talks on 25 areas of discussion, with subjects such as digital commerce and small businesses seen as areas where consensus was possible, Mexican officials said.
The Sept. 1-5 round will also touch on more thorny topics such as rules governing local content in products made in North America, Mexico's economy ministry said in a statement. Mexican officials believe Trump wants to include rules that some content must be made in the United States.
Trump's attacks on NAFTA are seen by Mexican and Canadian officials as a negotiating ploy to wring concessions, but they have heightened uncertainty over the accord. Away from the diplomatic noise, the Mexico round of talks is expected to help define the priorities of each nation rather than yield major advances.
Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke by telephone on Thursday and stressed they wanted to reach an agreement on NAFTA by the end of the year, the White House said. If they achieve that, it could set a record among the fastest multinational trade negotiation.
The goal is to get a deal before Mexico's 2018 presidential campaign starts in earnest. Officials fear the campaign will politicize talks, with nationalist frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador already recommending a tougher line from Mexico.
Nevertheless, one Mexican official noted that Trump's threats had put pressure on his negotiators, forcing them to adopt tougher positions "than they would like," while another official said they were ready to leave the table if needed.
Negotiators predict that there would not be substantial discussion of areas of friction in either this round or the next one, a source familiar with the process said.
"We do not expect any major breakthroughs or major developments in this round. We really don't," the source said.
TRUMP THREATS
Trump said this week he might trigger a 180-day countdown to withdraw from NAFTA while the talks were ongoing to help meet his goals, which include sharply reducing a $64 billion annual U.S. trade deficit with Mexico.
NAFTA, first implemented in 1994, eliminates most tariffs on trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Critics say it has drawn jobs from the United States and Canada to Mexico, where workers are paid far lower wages. Supporters say it has created U.S. jobs, and the loss of manufacturing from the United States has more to do with China than Mexico.
If NAFTA collapses, costs could rise for hundreds of billions of dollars of trade as tariffs are brought back. Free-trade lobby groups say consumers would be saddled with higher prices and less availability of products ranging from avocados and berries to heavy trucks.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told officials in Washington on Wednesday that Mexico would walk away from the negotiations if Trump pulls the trigger on withdrawing from the deal.
Amid Trump's warnings, Mexico is preparing for something hard to imagine even a few months ago - life without the agreement that boosted trilateral trade to around $1 trillion annually.
Juan Pablo Castanon, president of Mexico's Business Coordination Council representing the private sector in the talks, said Mexico's "Plan B" could be up and running within three months of an eventual NAFTA collapse.
Talking on Mexican television, he said the plan was focused on striking new trade arrangements in Asia and Latin America, sourcing alternate suppliers such as Brazil for grains now imported from the United States, and finding ways to recreate investor guarantees that are included in NAFTA.
Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto travels to China this weekend for talks about trade and investment, while Mexican negotiators were due to take part in trade talks with South American nations, Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday.
Mexico's status as the biggest foreign buyer of yellow corn from the United States gives it some leverage in the NAFTA talks, with corn-growing states that voted for Trump in 2016 emerging as a powerful voice that is opposed to scrapping the deal.
(Additional reporting by Adriana Barrera; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
| A RealNewsNow release || September 2, 2017 |||
Govt in slow lane - Mainfreight boss
Institute of Directors brings more holistic approach to governance guidelines overhaul
Zodiac stalls Poroti water bottling consent process
Exporters want pro-trade New Zealand government
Bus sized foundations cross the Cook Strait for Kaikoura recovery
More strategic approach to infrastructure welcome say BusinessNZ
New fixed speed cameras to be installed in 33 locations
June quarter terms of trade rise to almost 44-year high
McClay initiates urgent trade consultation over Queensland Govt practices
An estimated 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are used in the UK each year, creating around 25,000 tonnes of waste.
The difficulties in recycling paper coffee cups are two-fold – in their composition and in any contaminants.
The scheme involves Bywaters, facilities management partners Sodexo and Tenon Group, and UCL.
It will include all paper coffee cups, paper soft drink cups, paper vending machine cups, and paper water fountain cups from UCL’s buildings in central London.
Bywaters is to provide the logistics and collection of paper coffee cups to be converted into quality packaging.
It will collect designated bins then bale up all paper coffee cups to a mill where they will be pulped and the polymer plastic liner separated so all the paper fibre can be recovered and recycled.
The majority of cups collected in the scheme from the cafes on site, although used coffee cups from bins are also being accepted.
Coffee cups are usually collected together with other dry mixed recycling bags collected loose in tail lift vehicle, rather than bins compacted into a dustcart.
John Glover, managing director of Bywaters, told Packaging News that typical paper mills are designed to remove contaminants associated with typical mixed paper, and they expect a lot of different grades from bright white to office paper to kitchen towels, magazine paper coated in chalk or clay, staples, window envelopes.
The mill being used in this scheme is designed to remove high grade paper from the plastic coating and separate the polymer plastic liner.
“Currently paper cups end up as a low grade of paper. If this trial works how we expect it to, we have the scope to change the collection method so that paper cups are picked out as a separate stream at our Materials Recovery Facility. This means the cups could be included in mixed recycling and still go on to produce high grade white paper.”
Bywaters’ Materials Recovery Facility in East London is capable of processing up to 650,000 tonnes of material a year, recovering over 95% of collected materials including plastics and paper. The company’s aim to help all clients achieve at least 80-90% of their recycling targets through continuous innovation.
| A PackagingWorld release || September 1, 2017 |||
Benefits of architectural window tinting for your house and office can be found on the Solar gard product website or by contacting the New Zealand distributor Ross Eathorne at:
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.SWFilms.co.nz
.
Join NZ journalist and broadcaster, Judy Bailey, on this exclusive itinerary to "The Golden Land"... River cruising in Myanmar with Avalon Waterways and Judy Bailey 17 days including flights + Cruise + Hotels from $11,895pp ex Auckland!
This will sell out fast!
Call 0800 110 108 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.NOW!
Currently, the daily Sydney-London A380 service goes via Dubai, but from March 2018, it will change to stopover in Singapore.
The change is one of a few to come out of Qantas extending its Emirates partnership for another five years, to reflect customer demand, new aircraft technology and each airline’s respective network strengths.
Meeting in Sydney to finalise the extension, both airlines agreed the first five years of the partnership had lived up to the promise of serving their customers better, together. Changes to the joint network are designed to reinforce this for the next five years.What the heck are these changes?
The key change will see the airlines better leveraging each other’s networks, by providing three options to Europe – via Dubai, Perth and Singapore.
Qantas will re-route its daily Sydney-London A380 service via Singapore rather than Dubai and upgrade its existing daily Melbourne-Singapore flight from an A330 to an A380. As previously announced, Qantas’ existing Melbourne-Dubai-London service will be replaced with its Dreamliner service flying Melbourne-Perth-London.
A detailed summary of the changes, including effective dates, is provided at the end of this release.
Customer demand for flights between Australia and Dubai will remain well served by the 77 weekly services that Emirates operates from five cities – Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney – including seven daily A380 flights.
Qantas passengers will still be able to fly on Emirates to Dubai, where they have access to over 60 onward connections on Emirates to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The airlines will shortly seek re-authorisation from relevant regulators, including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, to continue coordination of pricing, schedules, sales and tourism marketing, under an expanded partnership.
Tickets for Qantas’ new services will be available from tomorrow.
Customers with existing bookings impacted by the changes will be re-accommodated onto the new services or will be given the option to change their flights.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the changes reflect a strong alliance between the two airlines.
“Emirates has given Qantas customers an unbeatable network into Europe that is still growing. We want to keep leveraging this strength and offer additional travel options on Qantas, particularly through Asia,” he said.
“Our partnership has evolved to a point where Qantas no longer needs to fly its own aircraft through Dubai, and that means we can redirect some of our A380 flying into Singapore and meet the strong demand we’re seeing in Asia.
“Improvements in aircraft technology mean the Qantas network will eventually feature a handful of direct routes between Australia and Europe, but this will never overtake the sheer number of destinations served by Emirates and that’s why Dubai will remain an important hub for our customers.”
Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline, added, “The Emirates-Qantas partnership has been, and continues to be, a success story. Together we deliver choice and value to consumers, mutual benefit to both businesses, and expanded tourism and trade opportunities for the markets served by both airlines. We remain committed to the partnership.
“We see an opportunity to offer customers an even stronger product proposition for travel to Dubai, and onward connectivity to our extensive network in Europe, Middle East and Africa. We will announce updates in the coming weeks.
“Customers of both airlines will continue to benefit from the power of our joint network, from our respective products, and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits.”
| A TravelWeekly release || September 1, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242