Dawson Strategic

In a paper released by the Fraser Institute as part of a collection of essays on the U.S. election,  Laura Dawson argues that Canada-U.S. economic relations have been on autopilot since the 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. In light of the recent shift in economic focus towards Asia, the leaders [...]

The members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have just concluded a round of trade negotiations in Auckland, New Zealand. The group comprises 11 countries—Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam—and represents a market of nearly 658 million people with a combined GDP of $20.7 trillion. This is also [...]

At a Dec 15 panel discussion  at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, Antonio Ortiz-Mena, Christopher Sands and I debated the fate of trilateralism as the driver of progress in the NAFTA.  None of us were unbridled optimists, but neither were we ready to bury the body either.  Since the Chatham House rule applied to our discussion (and I [...]

Laura Dawson will host a panel discussion of Robert Pastor’s new book, The North American Idea on Thursday, November 3, 4:00 p.m.  at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, Washington DC. Discussants will be Gary Doer, Ambassador of Canada to the United States and and  Arturo Sarukhan, Ambassador of Mexico to the United States. In The North American [...]

The day after I arrived in Washington,  Mother Nature provided a seismic reminder to expect the unexpected.  Perhaps that will be a lesson for my research on “North American Competitiveness in a Post-NAFTA World.”  I am thrilled to be starting a policy research project at The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  The Woodrow Wilson [...]

The Obama and Harper governments have big plans to make the border easier for traders and travellers.  The Beyond the Border (BTB) initiative is the kind of high-level bilateral cooperation that we haven’t seen since the pre-NAFTA days.  But, unprecedented cooperation and nimble government footwork will be required to put meat on the bones of this agreement.  [...]

According to the report, Border Barriers: SMEs’ experience with cross-border trade,  released by the Canadian Federation for Independent Business, the number one obstacle in cross-border trade for smaller companies on both sides of the border relates to the complexity of the process and its related paperwork. The common thread in the problems faced by small business is [...]