Automotive News Canada - July 2021 - 23

* JULY 2021
23
'Too much noise in the data' to fully gauge USMCA
The pandemic,
microchip shortage and
conflicts are among the
issues that make the
trade agreement's impact
difficult to assess
By EMILY ATKINS
T ORONTO CORRESPONDENT
ONE YEAR INTO THE
implementation of the United StatesMexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA),
the new trade deal has been mired in
the fallout from COVID-19 and ongoing
disputes over content rules, auto
industry experts say.
That makes trying to determine the
trade pact's impact on the Canadian
sector to date difficult.
" This has been an unprecedented
year because of COVID-19, the pandemic
and associated [plant] shutdowns,
so it is nearly impossible to
make a judgment on whether the
agreement has had any noticeable
impact on trade flows, " said Brian
Kingston, president of the Canadian
Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
(CVMA), which represents the interests
of the Detroit Three in Canada.
One year after government leaders signed the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement, the impact is still to be determined - to a great extent because of
the pandemic but also because of disagreements over content rules.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
" There's simply too much noise in the
data. "
Brendan Sweeney, managing
director of the London, Ont.-based
Trillium Network for Advanced
Manufacturing, concurred.
" We don't know anything. There's
very little at this point in time that
could really give us any indication of
whether this is working or not.
" And not just because plants are
idle; we've got this other stuff. We've
got COVID. We've got semiconductors
[shortage]. "
Other factors complicating the picture,
Sweeney said: " We have aspirations
now from Ford and General
Motors to potentially move up their
electrification investments. We have
a government that is increasingly
focused on not only assembling vehicles
but making batteries, and all this
stuff tangled up has given us a pretty
lean year for data. "
CLEARLY SOME BENEFITS
But it's not all opaque. Automakers
and parts makers alike are optimistic
that the USMCA will benefit Canada's
auto industry.
" The free-trade agreement was
good for the tooling and the automation
companies, particularly those
that are working in automotive manufacturing, "
said Jeanine LassalineBerglund,
president of the Canadian
Association of Moldmakers (CAMM).
Her members report that the ability
to say no tariffs are in place on
Canadian molds for U.S. importers -
and likely won't be for the foreseeable
future - has been critical in attracting
new customers south of the border.
The
USMCA, which went into
effect July 1, 2020, is " a critical piece "
of the plans of GM, Ford and Stellantis
to reinvest $5.7 billion into Canadian
manufacturing, Kingston said.
SEE USMCA PAGE 28
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Automotive News Canada - July 2021

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