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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joseph krinsky who wrote (14419)	3/25/2002 9:31:31 PM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27720

That is a very ignorant point of view aka Joe: George W. Bush, protectionist National Post One year ago, George W. Bush presented himself at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City as an avatar of free trade. The Free Trade Area of the Americas being contemplated, we argued, was a splendid idea, for history shows that when nations trade freely, they prosper. But since then, Mr. Bush has engaged in a wholesale protectionist sellout, truckling to domestic industries that deserved rebuke rather than appeasement for their demands of special protection. Free trade cannot succeed without U.S. sponsorship, yet Washington is now a fortress of protectionism. Instead of providing leadership, Mr. Bush has jettisoned his principles at their first test. In doing so, he has not only harmed his own economy and the economies of his trading partners, but has also cut global support for free trade at the knees. Canadians got a bitter taste of Mr. Bush's hypocrisy on Friday. Speaking in Monterrey, Mexico at the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development, the U.S. President lectured that "when nations close their markets and opportunity is hoarded by a privileged few, no amount of development aid is enough." As those fine words were being spoken, the U.S. Department of Commerce was finalizing duties that are devastating the Canadian lumber industry. To make bad things worse, some of Canada's biggest companies were also saddled with massive penalties on trumped up charges of below-cost lumber dumping. As many as 15,000 Canadian forestry workers have already been laid of, and thousands more cuts may still come. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf put his life on the line to help the United States fight terrorism. In return, he asked that Mr. Bush cut tariffs on Pakistani textiles. The President said no. As for the President's recent decision to impose 30% tariffs on Asian and European steel, it has already attracted retaliation from Russia. The EU is threatening levies on $3-billion worth of U.S. exports. Friction is all around us and a trade war is looming, all so Mr. Bush can keep a few wheezing steel companies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia operational till after the 2004 election. In response to Friday's softwood move, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said "I think we have a very good case in front of the WTO and NAFTA panels." That is putting it mildly. The merits of the softwood lumber dispute have gone to dispute resolution several times, and Canada has prevailed. Viewing all this, why would any Latin American country sign on to the FTAA when Mr. Bush has demonstrated he views free trade as an à la carte affair? The spectacle of the President bending over backward to appease protectionist lobbies would be less contemptible if he were battling for political survival. But he is not. Mr. Bush's approval rating is above 80%. That he should choose to violate his free trade principles in hopes of knocking it upward another few points is a gross insult to Canada and America's other allies.