June 12, 2017
With the uncertainty surrounding the looming North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations, companies “should anticipate potentially the worst” and re-evaluate their business strategies accordingly, Osler partner Riyaz Dattu tells the Law Times in a video interview. In the video, Riyaz, a partner in Osler’s Competition/Antitrust Practice Group who specializes in international trade and investment law, explains the widespread potential impact that changes to NAFTA’s current structure could have on Canadian businesses.
Riyaz tells the Law Times companies “should look at how reliant they are on the U.S. market, what’s giving them the ability to be competitive in the U.S., what are the rules and regulations that they rely on under NAFTA that allow them to be competitive.” Riyaz also says that companies might be prudent in documenting their NAFTA-related concerns in order to make sure that “Canadian negotiators are aware that these are important areas that need to be defended.”
Riyaz also outlines the various industries he says will be affected by NAFTA renegotiations.
“…Everything from the dairy industry, to poultry, to cultural industries, to certain types of government procurement activities have been protected under NAFTA,” Riyaz tells the Law Times. “There’s a swath of areas of law that will be affected.”
View the Law Times interview.