Darrel Pearson comments on the ongoing impacts the COVID-19 pandemic will have on Canada-U.S. trade in Canadian Lawyer. He says that even when the pandemic ends, the effects will carry on for a long time and will impact our trading relationship because both countries will be absorbed internally and domestically in improving their own economies.

Darrel also shares this thoughts on the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement's new rules of origin in the auto sector and trade with China:

While the recently ratified Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement has not had a significant impact on the substantial trading relationship between Canada and the U.S., in Pearson’s opinion, it did introduce new rules of origin in the auto sector that will be challenging to monitor and apply well. Pearson says he anticipates that the auto industry will be less reliant on those rules in terms of assessing whether goods meet the rules of origin. 

While China and the U.S. are engaged in an economic and political war, in-house counsel should be prepared to be nimble during the months ahead, says Pearson. “It’s going to be very important for Canadian businesses to diversify their destinations of goods and services,” says Pearson. “It’s important for companies that are looking to diversify and find opportunities that they really prepare themselves for new export destinations if they want to do business in technology.”