Good neighbors

There is no good reason for President Donald Trump or any other senior American official to ping Canada.

It is certainly true that there are areas of sensitivity, particularly when it comes to trade items between the two countries, where one side feels that the other side is taking unfair advantage of it. But these matters should not get in the way of what is basically a positive relationship between the two neighboring countries.

Now, two issues in the generally routine trading relationship between the United States and Canada are emerging—lumber and dairy exports.

America has imposed new tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber exports, perhaps as a prelude to a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The United States buys about 69 percent of Canada’s lumber exports. American buyers say Canadian provincial governments indirectly subsidize these exports—in essence, trying to export their unemployment, figuring that it’s better to spend to prop up an industry than to cover the social costs of idle workers in the lumber trade. Canadians and some Americans claim American construction costs will go up, dampening U.S. economic growth, if higher tariffs on Canadian lumber are imposed. Meanwhile, American dairy farmers, in Wisconsin and elsewhere, claim that Canada has taken steps to deter the growth of its dairy market to U.S. imports.

These two issues could point to a deal, if the Trump administration is ready to move toward easing trade.

Two facts remain pre-eminent. Canada was America’s best customer in 2016. America was Canada’s best customer the same year. The other fact is more global and strategic. One of the principal reasons the United States has been able to play its basically unchallenged role in the world is because its northern border is Canada, its southern border is Mexico, and the east and west are bordered by oceans.

It is important not to lose sight of those two facts when people like Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross call into question Canada’s “good neighbor” relationship with the United States over what are basically minor trade issues.