CANADA ECONOMICS
BRAZIL - AVIATION
EMBRAER. BOEING. REUTERS. FEBRUARY 2, 2018. Brazil's Embraer accepts Boeing offer to form commercial jet joint venture: Globo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) and Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA) will create a third company to oversee a joint venture for commercial jets, Globo TV’s top economic correspondent reported on Friday, without citing her sources.
Miriam Leitao reported on her blog that Embraer had accepted Boeing’s proposal to form a third company, and that the new entity would not involve Embraer’s military division.
An Embraer spokesman said the company did not have an immediate comment. Emails to Boeing in Brazil were not immediately returned. A spokesman for Brazil’s Defense Ministry said it had no immediate comment.
Embraer’s shares rose 5 percent in midday trading following the report.
Brazil’s government has made it clear that it would never accept any deal between Boeing and Embraer if the latter’s control over its military division were weakened in any way.
Boeing’s proposed tie-up with Embraer, the world’s third largest planemaker, would give it a leading share of the 70- to 130-seat market and create stiffer competition for the CSeries program designed by Canada’s Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) and run by European rival Airbus SE (AIR.PA) since last year.
Boeing Co
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BA.NNEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE
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The Brazilian government holds a golden share in Embraer giving it veto power over strategic decisions involving military programs and any change in its controlling interest.
Boeing would be willing to preserve the government’s golden share in Embraer, the people familiar with the matter said, but that may not be enough to win support.
Reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Phil Berlowitz
NAFTA
Global Affairs Canada. February 1, 2018. Minister of Foreign Affairs’ itinerary for the North American Foreign Ministers’ Meeting
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, is attending the North American Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on February 2, 2018, with Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and Rex Tillerson, U.S. Secretary of State, in Mexico City, Mexico. Photo opportunities and media availabilities will be held throughout the program.
FULL DOCUMENT: https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2018/02/minister_of_foreignaffairsitineraryforthenorthamericanforeignmin.html
REUTERS. FEBRUARY 1, 2018. Canada auto sales rise 5.7 percent in January
(Reuters) - Canadian auto sales rose 5.7 percent in January following two months of declines, with buyers choosing pickup trucks and SUVs over smaller passenger cars.
The Global Automakers of Canada (GAC) said on Thursday 117,281 vehicles were sold in the first month of 2018, nearly three-quarters of which were light trucks.
While there were warnings of lower levels of consumer confidence and uncertainties around the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement, auto sales “bucked that trend in a big way,” GAC President David Adams said.
“The gains reflect a strong labor market, which advanced last year at the fastest pace of the past decade,” Scotiabank analyst Carlos Gomes said, noting that job growth overpowers other economic variables for auto sales.
General Motors Co said its January sales rose 15 percent year-over-year, but rivals Fiat Chrysler, and Ford Motor Co saw sales fall.
Detroit-based GM said it sold 16,791 vehicles in Canada last month, with Chevrolet making up over 60 percent of total sales. (bit.ly/2Fy9GuY)
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said total sales fell 4 percent to 17,761 vehicles in January, with only its Jeep brand seeing growth.
Ford sold 16,465 vehicles, a 4.5 percent drop, even as its F-Series was the best selling vehicle across Canada.
Reporting by Taenaz Shakir and Karan Nagarkatti in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Sai Sachin Ravikumar
INTERNATIONAL TRADE / CANADA - CHINA
The Globe and Mail. 2 Feb 2018. China seeks to resume derailed trade talks with Ottawa
ROBERT FIFE
STEVEN CHASE
Two senior representatives from China’s Communist Party recently conducted high-level talks with senior Trudeau cabinet ministers and federal officials to broaden relations and resume a derailed effort to launch formal free-trade negotiations.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau spent time at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps last week with Liu He, the trusted confidant and top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
At the same time, the Communist Party’s top diplomat – an important role in the one-party state – paid a visit to Canada.
Song Tao, head of the Communist Party’s international liaison department, met Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Daniel Jean, the national security adviser to Justin Trudeau, as well as other senior advisers in the Prime Minister’s Office. As head of the Communist Party’s foreign affairs office, Mr. Tao is in charge of dealing with other communist parties in countries from North Korea to Vietnam to Laos and Cuba. But his portfolio has expanded. No public announcement was made about this slew of meetings, aside from one that took place in Toronto between Mr. Song and Bardish Chagger, minister responsible for small business and tourism. China posted statements on its embassy website in Canada this week.
Mr. Liu, meanwhile, is set to become vice-premier overseeing China’s economy and financial sector, Reuters has reported, giving him a potentially powerful role in clearing roadblocks that prevented Mr. Trudeau from commencing formal free-trade talks with Beijing during his visit to China in December.
Mr. Morneau’s communications director, Ben Chin, said the Finance Minister and the Harvard-trained Mr. Liu spent a half hour in Davos, largely in discussions on how to boost bilateral trade.
Mr. Trudeau came home empty-handed from Beijing in late 2017 when plans to launch formal free-trade talks during this trip went off the rails after the Chinese balked at Canada’s demand to include labour standards in negotiations.
Mr. Chin said there “was no recrimination or finger-pointing” over Mr. Trudeau’s failure to get a deal with Beijing.
“They discussed the broad range of the Canada-China relationship and talked about strengthening that relationship from a trade diversification perspective,” Mr. Chin said in an interview. “We want a stronger trading relationship and free trade is part of that relationship but it is not the be-all and endall. The idea is we want to sell more widgets in China with or without free trade.”
In his talks with Mr. Song, Canada’s Trade Minister also focused on how to move ahead on free-trade negotiations.
“They touched on trade in terms of a shared desire to find the best way forward,” Mr. Champagne’s office said in a statement to The Globe.
“The minister reiterated our commitment to a comprehensive approach and Song reiterated his desire to work together.”
The Chinese embassy released a statement, saying it believes “the Canadian side stands ready to, together with China, push forward the construction of bilateral free trade zone,” among other goals.
Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said he believes that Beijing and Ottawa are trying to find new language acceptable to both sides to push forward on formal free-trade talks and get past the disagreement over the inclusion of labour standards in negotiations.
The Chinese don’t want to create a precedent in Canadian trade talks that could impel other foreign countries to also demand labour standards as part of their own trade negotiations, Mr. Saint-Jacques said.
“They are afraid that discussion of labour rights, that other countries could make this a condition as well.”
Beijing under Mr. Xi is much bolder in its defence of China’s social and political arrangements. “This is the new China that says you won’t dictate to us how to behave,” Mr. Saint-Jacques said.
This puts the onus on Canada to rework its demands on labour standards but find a way to preserve a defence of Canadian values.
“I think there’s a bit of a hard swallowing that has to take place and it’s time to use some creative language,” Mr. Saint-Jacques said.
Mr. Jean, who has been tasked with high-level security, judicial and law enforcement talks with Beijing, briefed Mr. Song on the recent Canada-U.S. summit on the North Korean threat. Mr. Song is President Xi’s personal emissary to North Korea.
Most of the focus of their talks, however, was on bilateral issues related to security and rule of law, according to Global Affairs. No one in government would provide details of the security and judicial talks.
Last June, Mr. Jean and senior Communist Party official Wang Yongqing concluded an agreement in which China pledged to stop conducting state-sponsored cyberattacks aimed at stealing Canadian private-sector trade secrets and proprietary technology.
The deal only covers economic espionage – hacking corporate secrets – and does not preclude China from conducting state-sponsored cyberattacks against the Canadian government or military as it did in 2014, when Chinese hackers broke into the main computers at the country’s National Research Council.
It’s not known whether China continued to push Canada to enter into full-fledged negotiations on an extradition treaty that would enable Beijing to more easily request the repatriation of fugitives from Canada.
The next round of high-level national security talks with China will take place in Beijing later this year.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL. JANUARY 25, 2018. Trudeau defends ambassador under fire for China trade comments
ROBERT FIFE, DAVOS
STEVEN CHASE, OTTAWA
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending his envoy to Beijing who says Canada now has more in common with China's authoritarian regime than with the United States under President Donald Trump.
Former Liberal cabinet minister John McCallum, whom Mr. Trudeau named as ambassador last year to pursue a free-trade deal with Beijing, said this week in China that the election of Mr. Trump has been a game-changer for Canada.
"In some important policy areas such as the environment, global warming, free trade, globalization, the policies of the government of Canada are closer to the policies of the government of China than they are to U.S. policies," Mr. McCallum said Sunday during a visit by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.
Mr. McCallum said he never imagined it would be possible for Canada and China to be so closely aligned – a development he attributed to Mr. Trump's policies, which include protectionist measures and an anti-climate change stance. "I believe that because of this political situation with Donald Trump, the Chinese are now more interested than before to do things with us" in Canada, he said.
The envoy said the divergence between the United States and China is a boon for Canada. "In a sense, it's a good thing for me as an ambassador and for Canada with China because, because of these big differences, it gives us opportunities in China. There is no doubt that Canada wants to do more with China, which is what the Prime Minister told me when he asked me to come here."
At a wrap-up news conference Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr. Trudeau was asked if he agreed with his ambassador's outlook. He didn't disavow Mr. McCallum's comments but said his government's approach to foreign affairs is to look for common ground with countries, including China.
China's one-party state has come under significant criticism for its brutal human-rights record as well as its aggression in the South China Sea. According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, China has, over the last decade, "effectively seized over 80 per cent of the South China Sea, an area about the size of Western Europe" and built 12 "militarily significant facilities" in the region, including three major fighter bases.
Conservative foreign-affairs critic Erin O'Toole called the Canadian ambassador's comments rash, saying they risk straining relations with the U.S. government during a difficult renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement. "To suggest we have more in common with China than the United States at a time when we are trying to remind the U.S. of the special relationship is reckless," Mr. O'Toole said.
NDP MP Nathan Cullen described Mr. McCallum's comments as facile, saying the average Canadian might be taken aback to hear a government representative saying this country is more in line with "Communist China than our American cousins."
The political direction and policies across 50 American states are far closer to Canada's than China's, he argued. "We can't go from best buds because Obama is in office to the U.S. is worse than China because Trump takes over. ... America is a lot more than Donald Trump," Mr. Cullen said.
Mr. Trudeau said his government wants to work with China on areas where he feels the Chinese are acting as leaders. "On issues like the environment, on issues around trade, we are always looking to work with significant countries, like China that are showing initiative and leadership on that, but it doesn't mean we are going to agree with them on everything. Far from it," Mr. Trudeau said.
INFRASTRUCTURE
EDC. February 2, 2018. NOMINATION. Development Finance Institute Canada announces its first managing director and new “FinDev Canada” brand
OTTAWA – Today, Development Finance Institute Canada is pleased to announce that Paul Lamontagne has been appointed managing director of the newly branded “FinDev Canada.”
In May 2017, the Government of Canada announced the establishment of the development finance institute to draw upon a range of financing instruments to support private sector investment in developing countries. This announcement marks a critical step in the operational progress of the Montreal-based FinDev Canada. Through its lending and investment activities, it will promote gender equality and economic growth, help create jobs, and reduce poverty and negative environmental impacts in developing countries.
Lamontagne brings to the position extensive experience in banking, private equity, venture capital, and impact investing in emerging markets. He was the founding CEO and long-time Chair of Enablis Financial Corporation, an impact fund manager in Africa that supported over 150 SME’s. Most recently, he was responsible for managing a Canadian private equity fund that invests in renewable energy, infrastructure, and telecommunications in Africa.
Among his immediate priorities, Lamontagne will be responsible for refining FinDev Canada’s strategy, growing the team, and engaging with key stakeholders in Canada and abroad.
“Welcoming Paul Lamontagne to the team is a significant milestone, which marks the beginning of the operational phase of Canada’s development finance institution,” said Board Chair Benoit Daignault. “With Paul’s deep knowledge of impact investing in emerging markets, his guidance will help accelerate the building of the team, the organization, and the launch of activities to help deliver on its mandate.”
“Aligned with Canada’s feminist vision for its international development agenda, FinDev Canada can help to build more partnerships with businesses in developing countries, especially those operated by women and youth. Achieving long-term sustainability means investing resources from various sectors, both public and private,” said the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie.
FinDev Canada will aim to make a particularly profound impact with greener and more sustainable initiatives as well as for the empowerment of women, aligned with the government’s new Feminist International Assistance Policy.
“FinDev Canada will make a positive difference by matching the expertise and experience found in abundance in emerging markets with financing to businesses in countries where options are scarce,” said the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade. “We need innovative and flexible financial solutions to ensure that the most vulnerable can take advantage of, and otherwise benefit from, the opportunities that flow from trade and investment.”
“While I am very excited about this new role, I am also acutely aware of the responsibility that comes with launching a new institution that will be the first of its kind for Canada. The world will definitely be watching,” said Lamontagne. “Gender will be a critical part of our focus as part of our core business strategy,” Lamontagne added. “Overall, I know that my experience lines up with what this job entails, and for me personally, it’s the ability to make an impact on the world that gets me jumping out of bed each morning.”
Upcoming milestones for FinDev Canada include the launch of the website, the announcement of its first transaction, the appointment of an Advisory Council, and the opening of its office in Montreal.
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LGCJ.:
