TARIFFS PUT JOBS AT RISK
Both countries could suffer
The ominous tweets and verbal jabs emanating from the White House against Canada in recent days would have the American public believe there’s massive unfairness when it comes to trade between the two countries.
“It has been a bad week for U.S.Canada trade relations,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday night. Dairy and softwood lumber are just the latest flashpoints, after threats of new border taxes and “buy American” policies.
But speaker after speaker at the third annual Great Lakes Economic Forum in Detroit on Tuesday said it’s important to educate or remind America’s leaders and its public on the realities of one of the world’s most important trading relationships.
“Nine million American jobs depend on that unfettered border,” said Brad Duguid, Ontario’s minister of economic development and growth. Trump’s Make America Great Again will be challenging if “protectionism is in the air,” he added.
“The Great Lakes region is going through a good economic time — the last thing we want is to kill that.”
Days after railing against Canadian supply-side dairy, Trump on Monday announced stiff tariffs of up to 24 per cent on Canadian softwood lumber.
“It’s not going to bring more jobs to the U.S.,” said Duguid. Such a countervailing duty could add up to $3,000 to the cost of new homes, he said, making them less affordable for thousands and resulting in less construction work for Americans.
With fears of a trade war being expressed, Duguid said it would be unwise for Canada to “go tweet for tweet or tit for tat.”
Washington is proposing a new border trade tax, but that “will kill jobs in the U.S. and Canada and increase the cost of living for American and Canadian consumers,” Scott Brison, Canada’s president of the Treasury Board, said in another presentation.
Among a number of high-level Canadian officials who have been meeting regularly with their American counterparts at the state and federal levels, Duguid pointed out that more than 30 of 50 American states have Canada as their No. 1 customer, while 20 states have Ontario as their top market.
“There is no country in the world that is more important to the U.S. Period. Full-stop,” said Bruce Heyman, America’s former ambassador to Canada.
“Most Americans don’t understand the depth and the breadth of that relationship,” said James Blanchard, another former ambassador to Canada and ex-governor of Michigan. He said business and political leaders in the know need to educate others and “put this fabulous partnership in context.”
Blanchard described as a “false narrative” Trump’s message that “‘the whole world has screwed us.’ We need to stand up and point out realities.”
Trump’s victory in November was gained in part by winning Great Lakes states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where his America First message resonated with workers disillusioned with job losses in manufacturing. But the Council of the Great Lakes Region, the binational host of this week’s forum, points out that more than two million American jobs in the region rely on Canada.
And rather than being the result of what Trump called “the worst (trade) agreement ever signed,” a study last year by Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research concluded that 88 per cent of those job losses resulted from automation and productivity improvements.
A number of delegates expressed confidence Trump will eventually recognize the need for not disrupting an integrated economic system upon which millions of jobs depend.
“The president will be hardpressed to make any significant changes — (too much) downside for the U.S.,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told the forum.
But Trump’s current rhetoric is risky and concerning to some.
“Economic uncertainty … is a killer for business,” said Heyman.
The conference continues Wednesday with Navdeep Bains, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and economic development, among the speakers.