Last week U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said he’d impose aon all products from Canada and Mexico. Next, Mr. Trump reportedly joked that, if Canada cannot bear the economic consequences of the tariff, then it should become America’s “51st state.”
That comment was no doubt meant to be provocative but is also full of irony. Mr. Trump wants to put up walls between the United States and Canada through a tariff but at the same time jokes about removing borders altogether. We should look across the Atlantic. The common market of the European Union involves not only free trade across member states, but also a common labour market. Citizens of one EU country can apply to jobs in another EU country on a level playing field with citizens there.
These visas were retained as part of NAFTA, and even through the highly contentious USMCA renegotiation, which suggests that Mr. Trump may be supportive of this type of temporary and reciprocal labour mobility, at least for certain higher wage occupations. These TN visas have a limit of three years, can be renewed in principle, and do not lead to permanent residency.