I find our neighbors to the north to be fake. They talk a good game but in the end they are hypocrites.
2,398 for the U.S., 1 for Canada: That's the lopsided record on targeting forced labour
Both countries promised to stop illicit goods in new NAFTA. Only one has acted
A Uyghur activist raised a concern during an event in Washington, D.C., this month. It came during a discussion about a new U.S. law targeting modern slave labour.
At that think-tank gathering, people were evaluating how the law has worked and how it hasn't since it took effect six months ago.
During the discussion, Omer Kanat pointed to one problem: U.S. trading partners. He said some are doing little to stop the trade in forced-labour goods. And he mentioned one country specifically: the one next door.
"Canada has not stopped any shipments," the former journalist and prominent Uyghur advocate told the gathering at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Even though [Canada] is obligated to enforce the ban on forced-labour goods under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement."
Awkward, but true.
New U.S. law took effect 6 months ago
Countries agreed in the new NAFTA to ban imports of products made in whole, or in part, with forced labour; Canada subsequently entrenched the rule in its own domestic law.
Yet at this stage, the enforcement record seems lopsided. If one were keeping score, it would look something like: 2,398 for the United States, 1 for Canada.
That's how many shipments each country, in the last fiscal year, stopped at customs over suspicions they contained forced-labour goods.
Canada didn't actually block anything permanently. The sole intercepted shipment, clothing from China, was let in after an appeal by the importer.
The pace in the United States, meanwhile, is still escalating.
The forced labour filling our closets: U.S. is coming after it in an unprecedented way
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is now stopping more items since a new law took effect on June 21 and, at the current rate, could target more than 5,000 shipments over a 12-month span.
The U.S. hasn't yet released a detailed breakdown of how many of these shipments were eventually let in and how many were blocked permanently.
The main impetus for the new law is well-documented human rights abuses against Uyghurs, who reside in China's Xinjiang region.
Beyond that, the U.S. also just added 32 products from different countries to an older list of illicit goods; in a separate measure, it recently targeted a sugar company in the Dominican Republic.
Canada risks trade penalties, Liberal MP says
Canada had better wake up, says one Canadian parliamentarian. Otherwise, he warns, the country faces economic consequences.
The glaring disparity, Liberal MP John McKay says, could eventually lead the U.S. to file a complaint under our trade pact and then, potentially, slap retaliatory penalties on some Canadian goods.
"There's going to be some retaliatory measure. And it's perfectly understandable," McKay told CBC News in an interview.
"It's perfectly understandable the Americans would be upset with us. Because they're enforcing their side of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free-trade agreement and we're not doing ours," he said.
"It's not right. It's economically stupid, but morally it's not right."
McKay is pushing a private member's bill, S-211, through Parliament that would force large companies to file a report every year detailing steps taken to root out forced labour.
U.S. welcomes, China slams UN report on Uyghur rights abuses
Treatment of Uyghurs may constitute crimes against humanity, says UN human rights office
It's already passed in the Senate and received second reading in the House of Commons, and McKay hopes it will become law by the spring.
He says he can't understand why Canada Customs has detained, briefly, only one shipment — and wonders whether it's a lack of resources, or laws, that's the problem.
To be fair, the U.S. had a massive head start in preparing for this: Americans have had their own anti-forced-labour law for almost 100 years.
Companies face threats overseas
One trade expert and industry consultant defends Canada.
Eric Miller says importers are working to solve a devilishly complex issue. As an example, he cites a seemingly simple product: a T-shirt.
It takes about 100 steps to make one — from harvesting cotton to the final shipment to a store — and he says it's hard to conduct inspections on every step of the supply chain, as components pass through multiple hands via factories in several different countries.
Meanwhile, the companies face threats. In China, for example, firms that co-operate with foreign sanctions face public boycotts and also punishment under a new law.
Miller says countries can make all the promises they want in a trade agreement — but it won't amount to much without systemic change, such as new tracing technology, new laws and more public- and private-sector personnel.
"[Otherwise] it's like me saying, 'I want to run the Boston Marathon.' And then I sit on my couch and eat Cheetos all day," said Miller, a Canadian-born trade adviser at the Washington-based Rideau Potomac Strategy Group.
"Nobody in any sector of the Canadian economy wants to support forced labour.... It's not for lack of trying. There are good people working on this problem."
A Uyghur activist raised a concern during an event in Washington, D.C., this month. It came during a discussion about a new U.S. law targeting modern slave labour.
At that think-tank gathering, people were evaluating how the law has worked and how it hasn't since it took effect six months ago.
During the discussion, Omer Kanat pointed to one problem: U.S. trading partners. He said some are doing little to stop the trade in forced-labour goods. And he mentioned one country specifically: the one next door.
"Canada has not stopped any shipments," the former journalist and prominent Uyghur advocate told the gathering at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Even though [Canada] is obligated to enforce the ban on forced-labour goods under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement."
Awkward, but true.
New U.S. law took effect 6 months ago
Countries agreed in the new NAFTA to ban imports of products made in whole, or in part, with forced labour; Canada subsequently entrenched the rule in its own domestic law.
Yet at this stage, the enforcement record seems lopsided. If one were keeping score, it would look something like: 2,398 for the United States, 1 for Canada.
That's how many shipments each country, in the last fiscal year, stopped at customs over suspicions they contained forced-labour goods.
Canada didn't actually block anything permanently. The sole intercepted shipment, clothing from China, was let in after an appeal by the importer.
The pace in the United States, meanwhile, is still escalating.
The forced labour filling our closets: U.S. is coming after it in an unprecedented way
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is now stopping more items since a new law took effect on June 21 and, at the current rate, could target more than 5,000 shipments over a 12-month span.
The U.S. hasn't yet released a detailed breakdown of how many of these shipments were eventually let in and how many were blocked permanently.
The main impetus for the new law is well-documented human rights abuses against Uyghurs, who reside in China's Xinjiang region.
Beyond that, the U.S. also just added 32 products from different countries to an older list of illicit goods; in a separate measure, it recently targeted a sugar company in the Dominican Republic.
Canada risks trade penalties, Liberal MP says
Canada had better wake up, says one Canadian parliamentarian. Otherwise, he warns, the country faces economic consequences.
The glaring disparity, Liberal MP John McKay says, could eventually lead the U.S. to file a complaint under our trade pact and then, potentially, slap retaliatory penalties on some Canadian goods.
"There's going to be some retaliatory measure. And it's perfectly understandable," McKay told CBC News in an interview.
"It's perfectly understandable the Americans would be upset with us. Because they're enforcing their side of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free-trade agreement and we're not doing ours," he said.
"It's not right. It's economically stupid, but morally it's not right."
McKay is pushing a private member's bill, S-211, through Parliament that would force large companies to file a report every year detailing steps taken to root out forced labour.
U.S. welcomes, China slams UN report on Uyghur rights abuses
Treatment of Uyghurs may constitute crimes against humanity, says UN human rights office
It's already passed in the Senate and received second reading in the House of Commons, and McKay hopes it will become law by the spring.
He says he can't understand why Canada Customs has detained, briefly, only one shipment — and wonders whether it's a lack of resources, or laws, that's the problem.
To be fair, the U.S. had a massive head start in preparing for this: Americans have had their own anti-forced-labour law for almost 100 years.
Companies face threats overseas
One trade expert and industry consultant defends Canada.
Eric Miller says importers are working to solve a devilishly complex issue. As an example, he cites a seemingly simple product: a T-shirt.
It takes about 100 steps to make one — from harvesting cotton to the final shipment to a store — and he says it's hard to conduct inspections on every step of the supply chain, as components pass through multiple hands via factories in several different countries.
Meanwhile, the companies face threats. In China, for example, firms that co-operate with foreign sanctions face public boycotts and also punishment under a new law.
Miller says countries can make all the promises they want in a trade agreement — but it won't amount to much without systemic change, such as new tracing technology, new laws and more public- and private-sector personnel.
"[Otherwise] it's like me saying, 'I want to run the Boston Marathon.' And then I sit on my couch and eat Cheetos all day," said Miller, a Canadian-born trade adviser at the Washington-based Rideau Potomac Strategy Group.
"Nobody in any sector of the Canadian economy wants to support forced labour.... It's not for lack of trying. There are good people working on this problem."