When the U.S. invited Canada to join the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations last month, there was an agreed upon delay to allow it to complete a domestic approval process. As part of that delay, Canada was to be excluded from the negotiations during the approval period and bound by any […]
Post Tagged with: "USTR"
“One of the Most Extraordinary Weeks in the History of Canada – U.S. Relationship”
U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson appeared on CTV’s Question Period on Sunday and characterized last week as “one of the most extraordinary weeks in the history of the relationship between the U.S. and Canada.” Asked to justify the statement, he identified four developments: the Detroit bridge, Bill C-11, TPP, and the […]
USTR Ambassador “Offended” By TPP Transparency Concerns
USTR Ambassador Ron Kirk has responded to a letter signed by dozens of legal academics (I signed on) expressing concern with the lack of transparency associated with the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations. Kirk says he is “strongly offended by the assertion that our process has been non-transparent and lacked public […]
Stop Being Poor: U.S. Piracy Watch List Hits A New Low With 2012 Report
The inclusion of Canada on the priority watch list is so lacking in objective analysis as to completely undermine the credibility of the report. The Canadian “analysis” amounts to 173 words that hits on the usual dubious complaints (and given criticism of countries such as Chile for their notice-and-notice system, Israel for their statutory damages rules, and many countries on border enforcement, the Canadian criticism will clearly not end with the enactment of Bill C-11). By comparison, China is treated as equivalent to Canada on the priority watch list, yet garners over 4,600 words.
Earlier this year, I completed a submission with Public Knowledge to the USTR Special 301 process that examined current Canadian law as well as Bill C-11. It concluded:
U.S. Says Canada Will Not Have A Say in the TPP
At a stakeholder meeting yesterday, the U.S. Trade Representative indicated that Canada would not have a voice in negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership. The USTR has adopted the position that late entrants such as Canada, Japan, and Mexico will have to take the agreement “as is”, potentially including copyright term […]
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