Collating my work on trade security to pin this on Twitter. Check out the readings below! Thanks so much.

I suppose the question is whether US officials are nervous about all the Canadian press concerning forthcoming European talks.

Why has an Alberta referendum made it difficult for USTR to negotiate? Have US mid terms made it impossible for this administration to?

So 338 is meant to empower the POTUS to impose tariffs after finding evidence of specific disadvantages relative to treatment vis a vis foreign products…not based on exemptions raised by a Senator…unless we’re backtracking investigations?

338 depends on found factual evidence of discrimination of US commerce. But if the US liberalised trade in an FTA have to wonder how such disadvantages hold up. If you negotiated and agreed, that is. Historically, 338 was a tool to press for asymmetrical reciprocity with Canada.

So... the anti-coercion instrument?

I remain unclear how this trade tool would operate. ACI on steroids? Without the prevention? What of due process and accountability? What about harm to trusted partners? Persuade partners to align? Subject to international review? Cut off but also rebalance? Thresholds?

I worry that EU leaders imagine there is some magic weapon hidden behind a secret door ready to be unlocked. But there is no easy answer to Europe's economic competitiveness. And the politics cannot get behind the right policies until that reality sinks in.

Yes. It resembles the US push for use of non-violation complaints and rebalancing of security measures. Bypass some of the formal stickiness of compliance to make a woolly compromise that suits present politics.