The recently signed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) gives stability to the market, but it remains to be seen how big an impact it will have on Newfoundland and Labrador.
St. John’s South-Mount Pearl MP Seamus O’Regan says while the exact tangibles remain to be worked out, it’s the intangibles that matter for the new North American trade agreement.
From 2015 to 2017, the annual average value of exports from Newfoundland and Labrador into the United States was $5.5 billion. O’Regan says having certainty around that amount of economic activity is important to everyone.
“If you don’t know you have accessibility to market, if oil and gas producers, if Vale, if others weren’t confident that they had ready access to Canada’s number one market, that’s going to affect investment decisions,” said O’Regan.
“This is a huge relief for us.”
O’Regan couldn’t offer specifics in terms of what he expects the impact of the trade deal will be on Newfoundland and Labrador, mainly sticking to optimism over the relief of getting a deal done.
Elsewhere, the Dairy Farmers of Newfoundland and Labrador are concerned about the impact of the deal on farmers in the province.
In a news release, Crosbie Williams, vice-chair of the group, says the group is monitoring the situation as details of the agreement begin to trickle forth.
“While the implications of these changes for Newfoundland and Labrador are not yet fully known, the importance of the supply management system to this province’s food security is broadly recognized,” Williams stated.
“The impact on the livelihoods of our dairy farm families, their employees, their processing partners and the rural economies of the communities they reside in remains uncertain.”
O’Regan says he’s not sure yet about the impact of dairy farmers.
“We’ll have to see how it plays out, to be honest with you,” he said.
“There was a give on milk, but it wasn’t very much more than what we had given on CETA or CPTPP.”
O’Regan says there is potential for federal compensation for any losses by the dairy industry, but specifics remain to be worked out.
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