In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect, creating one of the world’s largest free trade zones at that time and arguably laying the foundations for strong economic growth and rising prosperity for Canada, the United States, and Mexico. However, since Donald Trump became US President last year, renegotiating NAFTA along with other trade deals, has been high on his agenda

The original NAFTA took 14 months to negotiate and just as long to ratify. The current negotiations are into their eight month and of the roughly 30 chapters to complete, many are not agreed upon. That’s too slow, current U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer, said at the close of a recent negotiating session in Mexico City.

The Trump administration are hoping to complete negotiations by May, 2018 so the agreement can be ratified before the opposition Democrats have a chance to regain control of Congress and or the Senate in January 2019. Mexican presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador could also hurt progress on a NAFTA deal if it’s not completed soon, should he be elected later this year.

The speaker will untangle the web of possible scenarios surrounding NAFTA negotiations and speculate on its final outcome, including the potential of Canada getting caught up in a trade war with US

Speaker: Dr. Chris Kukucha

Christopher J. Kukucha is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Lethbridge. He is the author of The Provinces and Canadian Foreign Trade Policy and a co-editor of several books including The Harper Era in Canadian Foreign Policy (Adam Chapnick), International Political Economy (Greg Anderson), and the third edition of Readings in Canadian Foreign Policy (Duane Bratt).

Chris also served as the William J. Fulbright Research Chair in Canadian Studies at the State University of New York (Plattsburgh) and is a past President of the International Studies Association of Canada.

Moderator: Austin Fennell

Date: Thursday, April 26, 2018 Time: Doors open 11:30 am, Presentation 12 noon, buffet lunch 12:30 pm, Q&A 1 – 1:30 pm Location: Royal Canadian Legion (north door) 324 Mayor Magrath Dr. S. Lethbridge Cost: $14 buffet lunch with desert & coffee/tea/juice or $2 coffee/tea/juice. RSVP not required

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