Windsor Star

Canada should do own trade deal with U.S.: prof

- GORD HENDERSON g_henderson6­1@yahoo.ca

Alfie Morgan knows this won’t sit well with Windsor businesses that have invested heavily in Mexican factories, but he believes Canada, facing a devastatin­g trade war it cannot win, must dump its Mexican NAFTA partner and do its own one-on-one deal with the U.S.

The University of Windsor business professor emeritus is first and foremost a Canadian patriot who doesn’t like seeing his adopted country bullied by the erratic, rampaging Donald Trump administra­tion.

But he’s also a realist who sees Canada making a huge mistake in remaining joined at the hip with Mexico to resist U.S. efforts to rewrite NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement).

Morgan, an 81-year-old dynamo who still teaches at the university and hits the gym several times a week, can’t understand why the Justin Trudeau government is putting solidarity with Mexico, which boasts a huge trade surplus with Canada, ahead of Canada’s own best interests.

Trump’s real beef, in Morgan’s view, is with a Mexico that has profited enormously from NAFTA, especially in automotive parts and assembly operations, and has racked up eyepopping trade surpluses with the U.S.

So why would Canada, to Trump’s great annoyance, lock arms with Mexico, he wonders, and place itself in his gun sights? We’re not the bad guys. We’re not stealing American jobs. We’ve been exporting Canadian jobs to Mexico. “Who is Mexico? Forget about Mexico. Mexico is not a strong partner. Let it go. We should go for a bilateral trade agreement between Canada and the U.S.,” said Morgan. He pointed out that the original Canada-U.S. free-trade deal is still in effect and could be beefed up to reflect new realities.

The bottom line, said Morgan, is that Canada, hugely reliant on trade with a vastly larger neighbour, cannot, under any scenario, win a trade war with the U.S. “Going one on one is OK among equals. But we are not equal. We cannot punish them.”

Morgan said it’s no doubt emotionall­y satisfying to impose tariffs on Kentucky bourbon or talk about boycotting American toilet paper, but the impact would be minuscule. “This is going to bring America to its knees? Yeah. Sure.” Morgan, who initially believed Trump could be an effective president by enlisting strong business leaders, said it’s “a shame all the grown-ups have left the room,” and been replaced by sycophants, but it’s still necessary for Canada to swallow its pride and cut a deal instead of playing a game of tit-for-tat that will only infuriate Trump.

“We need to eat humble pie and go and kiss the ring until he’s gone,” said Morgan.

That could be a long, long time, given that some political scientists now see Trump, currently polling well above 40 per cent, in the driver’s seat to secure — gasp — a second term in 2020.

Morgan believes this trade showdown should be a wake-up call for a Canada that has coasted for far too long on exporting its resource wealth instead of building a diverse economy. “This is a critical point in our life as a nation. This is a major strategic inflection point, telling us we better transform and reinvent ourselves.” Morgan, who currently teaches a master of management program for students from China, India, Nigeria and other countries and is amazed by their energy and dedication, said Canadians need to rediscover their work ethic and find a greater purpose than playing video games.

“We really need to get serious here. We’ve got to become an independen­t nation and that will involve making some sacrifices.” Instead, he sees a poorly led country obsessed with political correctnes­s and divvying up freebies we can’t afford. “We’re creating a lot of dependents but who is paying for this?”

He said Canada, instead of selling rocks and trees to sustain our overtaxed, over-regulated lifestyle, could learn a lot from a South Korea that transforme­d itself from wasteland to powerhouse in a few decades.

“Canada deserves better. And that really bugs me because I love this country so much,” said Morgan.

Yes. And wouldn’t we all love to know how many Canadian jobs — especially in the auto sector — have been exported to Mexico since NAFTA was signed.

Hasta la vista, baby.

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