Dustin 🇨🇦

Let me repeat this, because many people don't get this. Sorry for the long post but I just can't seem to figure out what to leave out to make my point. #1 The U.S. is under no obligation to simply give Canada unrestricted access to its markets. We have negotiated access through trade agreements, but that access comes with terms and obligations on both sides. Canada is not inherently entitled to sell whatever it wants into the U.S. market under whatever conditions it wants. #2 When two parties are negotiating, both are going to try to get the best deal for themselves. No party is under any obligation to accept the other party's proposals. That's literally what a negotiation is. #3 Canada does not have a lot of bargaining chips relative to the size of the U.S. economy. And some of the bargaining chips we do have, such as energy, electricity, potash, aluminum and critical minerals, could certainly hurt the U.S. if we restricted them. But doing so would almost certainly elicit a tremendously powerful response from the U.S. What you're seeing right now is largely posturing to make it appear that we're being tough. If Canada really wanted to inflict serious economic pain on the U.S., there are ways to do it, but the consequences for Canada could be enormous. #4 The U.S. has become increasingly concerned about Chinese goods, investment and Chinese content entering the North American market through Canada and Mexico. Washington wants its CUSMA partners much more closely aligned with the U.S. when it comes to China. Whether Canadians like that or not, this has become a major issue in our trading relationship with the United States. #5 Canadians are furious because the U.S. is using protectionist measures to protect American industries. Yet Canada does exactly the same thing. Our supply-management system puts extraordinarily high tariffs on certain American dairy, poultry and egg products once imports exceed established quotas. Some of those tariffs are well over 200%. We can't pretend Canada is some completely open free-trading country while accusing the Americans of protectionism. #6 Canada has also imposed measures specifically restricting U.S. automobiles. Canada imposed 25% tariffs on certain U.S. vehicles and established limits on duty-free access for qualifying American vehicles. Canada has even reduced those allowances for companies that moved manufacturing from Canada back to the United States. The U.S. now argues that Canada is treating American automotive products worse than products from some other countries. #7 Canada also gives certain European dairy products more favourable access than comparable American products. Under Canada's European trade agreement, retailers can access certain cheese import quotas that they cannot access under the equivalent CUSMA quota for American cheese. The U.S. argues, with some justification, that this puts American dairy producers at a disadvantage compared with European producers. #8 Many provinces pulled American liquor off their shelves as retaliation against the United States. Whatever you think about the symbolism of doing that, it created another barrier against American products while the federal government was simultaneously trying to negotiate a trade agreement with the Americans. The U.S. has specifically identified these restrictions as one of its trade complaints against Canada. #9 Softwood lumber. This is a decades-old dispute, long before Donald Trump came along. The Americans have argued for decades that Canada's Crown-land stumpage system effectively subsidizes Canadian lumber producers, allowing them to sell lumber into the U.S. at unfairly low prices and undercut American producers. Canada disputes that argument, but pretending this is something Donald Trump suddenly invented is simply false.