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EuroWire – May 2007

56

Transat lant ic Cable

The rate for blacks, 7.9%, and the rate

for whites, 4.0%, each fell by a tenth of a

percentage point.

In a separate report on 9

th

March,

the Commerce Department said that

the nation’s trade deficit – the difference

between

what

Americans

export

and import – narrowed in January, to

$59.1 billion from a revised $61.5 billion

deficit in December.

The change may seem negligible, but

every dollar shaved off the stubbornly

impacted deficit is greeted with joy in

Washington.

In brief . . .

New high-security drivers’ licences

issued by the Canadian province

of Ontario will include the latest

safeguards against tampering and

identity theft.

The Ontario government will spend

between $10 million and $12 million

a year for 10 years on the new

licences, which are to feature two

photographs of the driver and laser-

engraved signature. But they will not

contain citizenship or other personal

information until the US agrees to

allow them to be used in lieu of

passports at border crossings.

Since January, the US has required

every air traveller to the country to

have a valid passport. The White

House wants to extend the same rule

to land crossings by January 2008.

According to the

Toronto Star

, Ontario

is optimistic that the US will decide to

consider the greatly enhanced licence

an alternative to a passport.

On 10

th

March, transportation re-

porter Tess Kalinowski wrote that,

just the day before, British Columbia’s

minister for intergovernmental rela-

tions was in Washington, DC ‘trying

to persuade US officials of the

merits of a scheme to synchronise

drivers’ licences in his province and

Washington State,’ to ease border

crossings for the sake of both

Canadians and Americans.

Open-skies treaty

Pact between the EU and

the US promises more com-

petition and higher capacity on

lucrative transatlantic routes

On 2

nd

March, the European Union and

the United States reached a preliminary

agreement to eliminate almost all

restrictions on air routes between the

two areas.

Europe’s transport commissioner, Jacques

Barrot, announced ‘decisive progress’

in talks with US negotiators in Brussels

toward concluding a hard-fought push