COMM1010 Globe and Mail Notes PDF

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COMM1010 Globe and Mail Notes...

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COMM1010 - Midterm: Globe and Mail Notes

Date

Title

Notes

Sept 6th

NAFTA

Aluminium and steel now have 10% and 25% (respectively) tariffs when exporting into the US. Producers of these metals are calling upon NAFTA (North American free trade agreement) to abolish these tariffs in a new deal. Mexico failed to do this during their bilateral agreement meeting. CA and MEX trying to get World Trade organization to overturn them. Cultural exemptions- to protect cultural outlets of creativity eg music- they are subsidized and promoted this may otherwise violate trade rules. currently in place to protect Canada from buying majority stakes in media outletsUS team wants to remove them.

Trans Pipeline and Oil refinery maintenance

Oil refineries in the states are scheduled for maintenance- half of Canadian oil sand tar goes to these refineries meaning we have nowhere to send our oil. The trans mountain project that was overturned last month need to be discussed with First Nations communities as they will be affected by the expansion. The overturn further undermines investor confidence in Canada

HEXO undervalued

HEXO marijuana company stock is undervalued- don’t really understand this article fully... the stocks are undervalued, stockholders are not happy and they are pushing for the company to sell/ merge with another company to improve share prices $44.4-billion USD. China’s imports from the US have decelerated from previous months (currently $13.3 billion USD). China and US have both imposed 25% tariffs on $50-billion USD of each others goods. US is looking at raising that that to $200-billion USD, but China says they will retaliate. US has also threatened to raise it to $267-billion USD, which would cover almost all goods China sold to the US

Sept 11th

Brexit

Set to pass early November

Sept 12th

NAFTA

Talks halted while Freeland (NAFTA negotiator representative for Canada) came back to Canada to talk to Trudeau in person.

Foreign investments

Foreign investment decline- due to strained relationship with US and loss of faith in Canadian business policy- such as the trans pipeline

COMM1010 - Midterm: Globe and Mail Notes Shipping containers

Free trade agreement with EU boosts number of shipping containers coming in at the port of Montreal-We have had to hire more staff- shows we should be making trade deals outside of the US

AI

Integrate.ai an artificial intelligence software startup just received a $30million investment from Power financial corp- allowing for more research and growth I this up and coming industry

Trans Mountain pipeline

Trans mountain pipeline talks continue- need to get it approved APAPwildlife affected by increased marine traffic big concern.

Company merger

Hudson's bay Company- owner of Saks, Hudson’s Bay and German retailer Galeria Kaufhof is merging with German competitor Signa. This will give Hudson’s bay co a 49.99% ownership of retail operations and a $616 million payoff- allowing them to pay off debts- but this will result in 100s of layoffs

US corporate tax policy

Canada's economy is going to take a 4.5 hit if we don’t respond to the US corporate tax policy reform ASAP- we no longer have the tax benefit for companies so they are now choosing to invest in the US economy

Sept 13th

India and Canada

India and Canada are setting sights on one another to start up trade deal conversations- in light of NAFTA negotiations

Sept 14th

Canadian trade

Discussion on Canadian self defence- for our economy we need to be prepared for multidimensional conflict- by diversifying our trade, investing in cyber security and limiting the level of foreign investors. This is in light of Saudi Arabias reaction to the foreign administers tweet to activists from imprisonment, and in preparation for NAFTA changes

Brexit

Brexit- Theresa May, Dominic Raab (Brexit secretary) warning Brexit may end in a no-deal. Meaning UK residents will suffer from cell phone charges, needing a special driving licence in the EU, space debris warnings will stop

AI

AI industry is hiring qualified people in canada.

Barriers for Canadian Companies

Increased costs in electricity and the pipeline delays are new barriers causing companies to lower capital investment (machinery investment etc) in their companies. Worrying because investment is a key indicator of future economic growth.

Uber boosts Toronto R&D to speed strategic shift

Uber is ready to invest $200-million in Toronto. Aims to create options such as electronic bikes and more carpool options for consumers. University of Toronto is leading its first non US self driving centre. Uber lost $891 million USD last quarter down from $1.1 billion USD a year earlier.

COMM1010 - Midterm: Globe and Mail Notes Sept 17th

Sept 19th

Sept 20th

DeBeers Mining

DeBeers African diamond company looks to Canada for businessVancouver Chidliak- 22 million carats- Africa is demanding too much of a cut of the profits- Canada would be more profitable for the business

Tariffs on aluminium and Steel

Some purchases in Canada get ‘hit twice’ on purchasing finished aluminium and steel products- once for the tariffs of raw material from CA moving to US and once again moving finished product from US to CAspecialty items e.g oxygen tanks- companies try to absorb cost but have to share some with consumer

Corn

Canadian exports of corn increase due to US tariff worldwide

Ikea and Unilever

Ikea and unilever are creating customer involved initiatives to increase reduce reuse and recycling

NAFTA

Freeland says ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’- see sept 10th on repercussions of this

Marijuana news

US approved marijuana drug containing CBD and THC to be tested in Mexico- this is new for the US. Aurora cannabis company had exploratory discussion with coke a cola about CBD oil in soda

US refinery shut down

US refinery outages mean Canadian crude oil prices will have nowhere to go and oil prices will increase

Wood exports to US

US building permit reduction predicts drop in building houses which means a decrease in exports of wood for Canada.

NAFTA- auto industry

Ottawa is looking for assurance that Trump won’t place tariffs on Canadian auto part exports- worth 80 BILLION a year if we fail to come to a NAFTA agreement. In US Mexico deal there is a clause in the agreement that states Washington can impose levies (taxes) on vehicles that don’t meet certain standards when the imports per year reach 2.4 million (a cap). After the cap if conditions aren’t met (salary, production location etc) a tariff will be added. Why? To halt growth of the Mexican auto industry. So even under a NAFTA deal Trump may still impose the levies. Which kind of defeats the purpose of a free trade deal so it is imperative to Canada to fight this clause. 85% of Canadian auto exports to the US- causing 100,000 job losses and a recession (according to the Canadian automobile dealers association). Chrystia Freeland (Canadian negotiator) and Robert Lighthziger (US negotiator).

Tilroy- marijuana companyMentioned in todays lecture

Stock suddenly skyrocketed and then within the same day fell back down. Experts warn investors of ‘mania stocks’, and also say marijuana investments are a hedge for alcohol and pharmaceutical companies.

COMM1010 - Midterm: Globe and Mail Notes Sept 27th

LNG terminal

Located in Kitimat BC, The terminal would be used to export liquid natural gas from Canada to China, therefore with the purpose of Canada attempting to profit off of the chinese market. The project would cost $40 billion, and an additional $1 billion due to the american steel tariffs as Canada would need to import steel from the US to build the terminal

Oct 1st

NAFTA

Late Sunday night Canada and U.S have reached an agreement. NAFTA is now renamed USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement). Trump gained the right for american farmers to sell more products into canada’s dairy system, 3.2% of the market. Trump did not lift tariff on steel.decided to keep chapter 19, and phase out chapter 11. Less import duties for consumers online shopping over border.

Oct 1st and 2nd

Tesla / Elon Musk

The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission charged Tesla Inc and Elon 20 million each to financial regulators. The reason being Tesla not having control over Elon’s inaccurate/undisclosed tweets about making Tesla “private at US$420 a share and had secure funding”. Elon is stepping down as the company's chairman, but is still remaining as chief executive. Tesla shares spiked by 18% after setting the lawsuit

Husky and MEG Energy Corp

Husky announced $3.3 billion hostile takeover offer for MEG Energy Corp.

LNG Canada forges ahead with $40-billion B.C. project

Construction of liquefied natural gas export terminal to create thousands of jobs. Environmentalists have cautioned that the project will be a setback in the fight against global warming. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed LNG Canada's announcement – coming on the heels of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade – as a sign of confidence in the Canadian economy. The export terminal will generate an approximate $23 billion for British Columbia. Exports from the LNG Canada terminal will be shipped to Asia, which is a coveted export market. Canada will be globally competitive in costs while still primarily employing Canadian workers for the five-year construction phase

USMCA and Canadian farmers

Canada’s chicken, turkey, and egg farmers are warning that more market access granted by the new NAFTA deal would erode heir supply managed industries and lead to losses in their farm income. The US competition is going to drive down domestic poultry sales which in turn will result in lost jobs, lost production and decreased access to Canadian raised products and the reduction in contribution to Canada’s economy. They are protected by fixed farm gate prices, production and high tariffs.

Trans Mountain pipeline

Ottawa has reopened consultations w/ Indigenous communities on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion after a court ruled that its previous efforts were inadequate. Construction might not resume until next fall as the gov’t and provinces oil patch are losing millions/day from the shortage of pipeline capacity

Oct 3rd

Oct. 4

COMM1010 - Midterm: Globe and Mail Notes Oct. 5

Oct. 8

China vs. USMC

Canada is not happy w/ the USMCA as it interferes w/ China’s sovereignty w/ Canada. China claimed they will continue to carry out mutually beneficial economic and trade co-operation w/ countries worldwide despite how other countries adopt trade-restricting deals against China.

Trudeau

Trudeau has promised farmers compensation for market losses under USMC deal, as the US has access to the dairy market and has made changes that could limit Canada’s global dairy exports

Dairy farmers

Dairy farmers faced w/ labour shortages and a new trade deal, producers are investing in automatic milking systems to reap the benefits of increased productivity

US gov’t n sugar

The US gov’t renewed its long-standing curbs on sugar imports. Special quotas allow small quantities of foreign sugar to be sold in the US duty free before steep tariffs kick in. Any exports that go above the set level will face a 95% tariff.

https://www.bdo.ca/en-ca/insights/tax/tax-alerts/nafta-usmca-overview/...