And Good Luck With That

Not a word in the Washington Post to remotely suggest that America's next-door neighbour, the one with whom she has the greatest trade, the closest to her socially and culturally with a shared historical background in British settlements, was visiting the country in the person of Canada's Prime Minister, for a distinct purpose. Americans are so wrapped up in themselves, their news media so self-consumed, the only brief notes they recognize about Canada relate to scandals, or purported insults against the U.S.

But there was Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on a mission to attempt to convince the United States, Canada's great traditional trading partner, with whom under the two free trade deals the two countries' industries and trade have become inextricably entwined, with both countries benefiting immensely economically, and there's no notice, no story. Utterly pedestrian, nothing to warrant even the minutest coverage; not even under the rubric of 'what's going on at Capital Hill'.

Of late, Canada has been given to understand we're not so special, after all, in the larger scope of trade relations. Reality may be that states and provinces recognize - some of them - the interlinked structure of the two countries in business and trade enterprise, but the political elite of the country do not. It is the United States Congress that listens carefully to those states and special interest groups lobbying for protectionism, and on whose behalf they are swift to react.

The President of the United States may deplore his party's, and his country's, and his Congress's protectionist streak, and commiserate with Canada over the lop-sidedness of the fast-emerging protectionist bent, but his is neither the choice nor the power to turn the tide. Yet direct talks between the Prime Minister and the President, outlining the problem, and the extent of the problem, is a necessary requirement.

The problems that Canada has experienced in the past with lumber states protesting against Canada's trade being subsidized by the government is patently absurd when one considers how fully the United States subsidizes agriculture and then proceeds to dump cheap produce on the Canadian market. Canada's energy resources represent the United States' first source for oil and gas as well as electricity, without ever acknowledging that fact.

When mad cow disease is discovered in a single cow not yet sent to slaughter in Alberta, the market is shut down to Canadian producers and their traditional markets in the U.S. Swine flu hits the consciousness of the international community and suddenly pork products are looked upon askance, and the market for pigs and hogs, traditionally sent to the U.S. from Canada, mysteriously dries up. Connection?

Now new U.S. regulations ban Canadian airlines from flying chartered planes between American cities, a practise normally permitted for artistic touring performances and professional sport teams. Canadian companies have been shut out of bidding on the massively-funded infrastructure projects in the U.S. due to the buy-American provisions built into the Economic Recovery Act in the U.S.

While nothing stops American firms from bidding for Canadian contracts. The irony here, of course, is that American contractors are themselves dismayed that they may no longer source less expensive and better quality construction products from Canada as they have always done, the Act forcing them to buy American in instances when it does both us and them a clear disservice.

To his credit, in recognition of where the real power lies with respect to trade, Prime Minister Harper will be addressing the U.S. Congress to remind them that their buy American provisions represent protectionism, a practise that does them no credit, wins them no friends, and destroys their credibility in the world marketplace.