Canada’s push for unfettered trade should begin at home
A significant amount of ink is being dedicated on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border to the trade conflict that President Donald Trump precipitated at the end of the G7 meetings in Charlevoix, Que.
Trump wants a better trade footing for the United States, pointing out that tariffs of around 270 percent are slapped on American dairy goods entering Canada.
The principle of freer trade matters to Trump and he has decided to go full tilt to defend it by upending the principle with more tariffs. Lost in the hyperbolic reaction from Washington this week is the fact that Trump’s protectionism is not all that different from Canada’s.
The conditions of the current dispute are similar to a trade conflict in the 1860s between Canada and the United States, just before Canada was created.