NAFTA a gold mine for U. S.

Re: We’re out? Who knows, Andrew Coyne, April 27

Last week Donald Trump, who seems to know as little about NAFTA as NATO, said he could do without the trade agreement. Justin Trudeau hurriedly telephoned him to say that NAFTA was quite good f or America, which then allowed Trump to patronize all of us.

Is there some reason that the Canadian government has deliberately not told Americans the benefits of NAFTA for them? Many Canadians, I’m sure, have urged the government to publicize these benefits in the United States. Last fall I wrote myself to Minister Chrystia Freeland, beseeching her to hire a U. S. public relations firm to point out to Americans that NAFTA is a gold mine for the U. S. NAFTA has converted Canada and Mexico into America’s No. 1 and No. 2 customers, inducing them to buy a colossal amount of American goods and services amounting to nearly a third of all U. S. exports.

In January I wrote to François- Philippe Champagne, the new Minister of External Trade, making the same request. He replied saying it wasn’t his baby; it was Minister Freeland’s.

So we are now about to “renegotiate” a trade agreement with the U. S. which Americans apparently think is nothing but a giveaway.

I realize that the Canadian government has sent individual emissaries to Washington to do one-on-ones. But clearly this hasn’t worked when the president himself, as of Wednesday, still though that NAFTA had no or little advantage for the U.S.

Even Canadians don’t k now how a bundantly beneficial NAFTA has been for the U. S., you’d have to be quite old t o remember the Canadian department stores, the Canadian manufacturers, the Canadian consumer products, the Canadian retail chains which used to exist before NAFTA and which now have been swept away by American substitutes. Many Canadians, I suspect, feel that the crude objections of Americans to our softwood l umber and dairy businesses may be justified. The Canadian government is as silent about the American advantages of either as it is about any of the American advantages from NAFTA. This will be fatal for any success in the negotiations. P. B. Lyndon, West Vancouver

Why is it that Andrew isn’t smart enough to take Trump seriously instead of literally? He just doesn’t get it! Craig Noren, Ft. Langley, British Columbia

I totally agree with Andrew Coyne’s last sentence of his article, “we can at least improve our own” ( strategy and tactics presumably), but I am puzzled by his analysis. As a former business manager and owner I understand Trump tactics. It seems that Coyne thinks Trump’s behaviour is unpredictable and a problem to which we must adapt quietly.

Business management theories address unpredictability as a sort of general condition of life. What is usually required is a plan to address unpredictable events. A competent CEO is looking at such events as a series of opportunities. Clearly, Trump looked at Canada’s unfair and outdated dairy and forestry practices as an opportunity to show his gravitas not only to Canada, but essentially to China, Mexico and the world. It was easily predictable, with our indefensible dairy supply monopoly and forestry subsidies. That we, in Canada, are surprised by Trump just shows how naive and unprepared we are in our national strategy and tactics.

Man playing with boys. Alec Bialski, Calgary

THE BUCK DOES NOT STOP WITH SAJJAN. TRUDEAU HAS ALSO HELPED. — CRAIG SCOTT