Dear Members and Friends:
The elections are over, although challenges and final counts are continuing. In our last update we provided a glimpse of how supply chain might change based on the proposals both President Trump and now President-Elect Biden put forth during the campaign. The proposal of the Biden campaign on supply chain with more detail can be seen here. We will keep you abreast of new information once the Biden Administration forms its Cabinet and key players are identified.
Just before the election, Colin Robertson wrote an excellent piece, “Biden or More Trump: What Canadians Need to Know about the 2020 U.S. Election,” which gives some insight on factors that would be important to Canadians depending on the outcome. However, Colin indicates that “Life for Canada would be easier with a Joe Biden administration.”
Fitch’s “Global Macroeconomic Monthly Update” for October shows, in charts, that the sharp economic growth of Quarter 3 may be hard to sustain going forward, particularly in light of the dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in most of the world.
On the Mexico side, attached is Tom Johnston’s monthly “Mexico Investment, Economy and Politics Brief.” And finally, attached here is a report on the growing trade and investment relationship between Mexico and Canada done by COMCE Sonora (Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology).
On Brexit, we are following several activities. A summit of EU leaders on November 19 is now viewed in Brussels as the final deadline for a draft Brexit deal, with negotiations on Britain’s future trade and security relationship with the bloc set to go to the wire. Negotiators working in London had hoped to be able to pass on a deal to MEPs for scrutiny by November 18 to allow time for parliamentary ratification, but the talks remain difficult, according to sources on both sides.
It was hoped that the parliament would vote on the deal on December 16. Sources in the European parliament said an extraordinary sitting of the chamber may need to be arranged for December 28 – three days before the end of the transition period when the UK leaves the single market and customs union. Key issues remaining are coming up with a “level playing field” and fishing rights.
President Elect Joe Biden has said ““We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit. Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.”
On the webinar front, our Chapter is working on three new sessions for the next few months: an update on the Mexico automotive industry and its supply chain in the COVID and USMCA environment; a look at the growth of e-commerce and technology utilization in Mexico; and a view of several key manufacturing centers in Mexico on trade and investment in their geographies.
Keep in touch. Check us out at www.usmcocma.org.
Stay safe. And, thanks for your continued support.
Ralph Biedermann
Executive Director
U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Mid-America Chapter
(224) 578-5310 Mobile
ralph.b@usmcoc.org
www.usmcocma.org