Is trade war with Canada on the horizon?

Are Canada and the United States entering a trade war? On April 25, Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, announced that a 20 percent tariff would be applied to most Canadian softwood lumber exports. President Trump got into the act last week, calling the

No surprise, Canadian officials see things differently, for instance, insisting that dairy farmers on this side of the border produce too much. Worth stressing is that trade disputes happen, even between the closest of trading partners, the United States and Canada each year exchanging roughly $600 billion in total goods.

More, the bottom line is even, essentially, Americans running a $15 billion trade deficit.

As it is, these disputes get resolved, and if they surface again, or new ones emerge, talks resume with the intent of bridging differences. The larger benefits of the partnership are too great to let such arguments result in lasting harm. Yet the wild card in this instance is the president.

Trump the candidate found just about nothing redeeming about the North American Free Trade Agreement. “A total disaster,” he repeated. He talked about abandoning the accord. He still plays to fears and resentments about trade playing a prime role in American job losses . ...

No doubt, there is a way to resolve the matter. What the lumber and dairy disputes highlight is the complexity of the trade agreement among Canada, Mexico and the United States. If the agreement would benefit from updating (something the Trans Pacific Partnership achieved), there is much risk in opening the way for clashes among the powerful interests from all three countries, imperiling benefits such as the streamlined and now highly competitive supply chain of the auto industry.

That risk increases dramatically when politicians hold that only their side has a worthy argument.

Read the full editorial from the Akron Beacon Journal at bit.ly/2puP13Z