The imposition of a border adjustment tax (BAT), as proposed by some in the Trump administration and Congress, would have major impacts on international trade, employment, and the general economies of the three NAFTA partners.
That was a major message in the presentation of Peter Hall, vice president and chief economist for Export Development Canada, at a conference convened by Coface, a global trade credit insurer, in New York last week.
Hall expounded on three scenarios, based on three different BAT levels, and their impacts on crossborder trade and investment and on US employment. The bottom line is that the United States, Canada, and Mexico have become so integrated under NAFTA that the BAT could impact tens of millions of dollars in investments in the US and millions of US jobs.
