Don’t capitulate to U.S. on trade talks
Re Will Trudeau walk away from bad deal? Sept. 14 There are four reasons why Canada should not acquiesce to Trump’s demands on NAFTA:
1. Trump needs an early closure (before the U.S. mid-term elections) in order to show that he is a good negotiator. Canada faces no immediate time constraint and will not face one until just before the 2019 federal election.
2. Bowing to Trump’s demands will show that bully-boy tactics will work. This will set a new, deplorable standard for any national negotiation. The U.S. and other nations will be more willing or even eager to try similar tactics with Canada and other nations if Canada capitulates.
3. Canada’s reputation in any future negotiations with the U.S. and other nations will be irreparably damaged. It will show that Canada is weak and will succumb to pressure.
4. Bowing on the three primary obstacles (Chapter 19, cultural exemptions and supply management) will do irreparable harm to Canada’s economy and way of life.
If Trump carries through with auto tariffs, Canada (particularly Ontario) will feel it, but it will be short-lived. Bowing to Trump’s demands will have an everlasting, devastating effect. Dennis Choptiany, Markham NAFTA talks with the U.S. have not been going well and one of the big sticking points is milk.
I don’t see much about the fact that milk from the U.S. contains bovine growth hormone. In other words, their milk is not as pure as ours. Why, then, would we want to take their milk, which is not up to our standards of safety?
If the U.S. adopted a supply management system similar to our own, they wouldn’t have this oversupply of milk that they want to dump onto us. Trump blames us for problems the Americans have created as though we were the villains.
We must refuse their milk to keep up our purity standards and bring that up at NAFTA talks. Jane White, Scarborough Your paper has done a great job for months detailing almost every aspect of the NAFTA negotiations. Full pages. Full articles. Many, many paragraphs.
I wonder if an expert on your staff might provide just one line answering the following question: What is it that the United States is being asked to give up or is offering in these negotiations? Garry Preston, Oakville