Hi, teevee - "With friends like the US, who needs enemies?"
I understand your points; I do not disagree on the facts that you present.
Where I disagree is on the interpretation. The failure of the United States to comply with previous rulings - rulings they agreed to abide by, and respect, in NAFTA - is a worrisome matter.
Not only have they broken the rules; now they're ignoring the referee.
The question here is: "What's really happening?"
And it is on this question that we seem to (potentially) disagree.
Your view is that this represents a policy decision. Mine is that it does not. Your view is that it is an action sanctioned and sponsored by the American government. My view is that it reflects an internal debate (including lobbying) that has caused America to back off from compliance with, and enforcement of NAFTA. That is, the American government, and the American people, are re-examining the adequacy of these bilateral trade mechanisms; while that happens, compliance is weakening. In my view, there is still hope. In your view, the war is "on".
If your view is correct, then the recent drop in the Canadian dollar is understandable: the world is telling us the the United States is abandoning the precepts underlying NAFTA, and NAFTA itself.
Well, if that's the case (and you are right), then we both better get used to a less competitive, and fractious North America. And we better get used to the fact that this sort of acrimonious finger-pointing, and pious self-portraits of economic duress, will be the norm - on both sides of the border. We will be drowned by waves of righteous rhetoric, as we both grow poorer, and less competitive.
And, as I posted earlier, if you think the Softwood Lumber Dispute was economically damaging to Canada, you ain't seen nothin' yet. There are forces in America, that will, if given a free hand, rape and pillage Canada.
A lot depends on how Americans, and the United States government, see Canada: that view is woefully uninformed; the matter rarely commands more than a nanosecond in American consciousness.
Unless a bunch of lobbyists decide to play the Blame Game, that is: then we get front-page treatment.
My personal belief is that cooler heads will prevail, and that the benefits of NAFTA will be rediscovered, and affirmed.
Your belief is considerably more pessimistic: but that does not mean you are wrong.
It just means that I hope you are wrong. As yet, the matter is "not proven".
Regards,
Jim |
