US NAFTA Negotiator Lies On Statistics By Counting Imports Twice!

[Economy 52,842]

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4524824

 

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been including goods that pass through Canada but don't originate here as Canadian exports in his export calculations, artificially inflating the United States' trade deficit in goods with Canada.

That explains why the trade deficit figure cited last week by Lighthizer is so out of line with reality, Canadian government sources say.

 

Basically, the USTR is counting the same goods twice. For example, a Chinese washing machine that passes through the port of Vancouver on its way to the United States is being counted in both the U.S. trade deficit with China and in the U.S. goods deficit with Canada.

And while Lighthizer is counting that washing machine as part of Canada's surplus with the U.S., the product is already paying tariffs as a Chinese import.

[Economy 52,842]

Last time the US complained about the US trade deficit with Canada they also totally excluded non-physical trade

 

Basically the US sells way more to Canada in terms of financial and retail services so when all trade is taken into account the account balance shows there's actually more money flowing from Canada to the US than from the US to Canada

 

But it's convenient to only count manufacturing as part of trade when it gives you the numbers you want to complain on in trade

 

[PartySick 172,424]

A U.S. official lying?!

I'm shocked

[Melania K Trump 6,303]

So... does that mean he's committed fraud?

[Economy 52,842]

Just now, Haiii said:

So... does that mean he's committed fraud?

No... This isn't something that gets politicians in legal trouble... Politicians on a regular basis present the information in a way to try to mislead people

 

But this is very low I think to actually go as far as counting some items twice

 

These negotiations are hard and if you try to sneak misinformation and hope your opponents don't notice and didn't do their homework but then they did and they know your lying...

 

It creates mistrust on both sides and makes an agreement even harder to achieve

[Fish 6,259]

The U.S. are undeniably dishonest and difficult with these NAFTA negotiations. I don't know how much it is just a tool that serve Trump's political narrative, or it is just U.S. officials thinking they are the center of the universe (typical American pride).

The Bombardier / BOEING litigation is also very telling of how unfair the U.S. government is with Canada and Canadian industries.

 

 

 

[Economy 52,842]

3 minutes ago, Fish said:

The U.S. are undeniably dishonest and difficult with these NAFTA negotiations. I don't know how much it is just a tool that serve Trump's political narrative, or it is just U.S. officials thinking they are the center of the universe (typical American pride).

The Bombardier / BOEING litigation is also very telling of how unfair the U.S. government is with Canada and Canadian industries.

 

 

 

Another thing that pisses me off is the impact of energy trade on these numbers too

 

Canada has an old agreement with the US that a big portion of our Oil and Natural Gas exports have to go to the US because they wanted a reliable supplier without political turmoil like in the Middle East

 

The US needs these energy resources and if we didn't supply them they would have to get it else where... Canada also isn't allowed to sell a big portion outside Canada and USA

 

Because so much oil and natural gas is involved it also adds to the trade numbers... But because they asked us in the agreement to sell to them specifically, in terms of fair trade disputes this should not be included in the numbers for trade deficit

 

Canada could of gotten other buyers by now it it wasn't for the existing agreement and back then we could of built a pipeline more easily to west coast to do that because back then there wasn't so much opposition to this kind of thing