Why Liberals need to continue to fight protectionist tides
Canada and U.S. must work together to keep job-creation engine healthy, writes Dan Kelly
Like many Canadians, I can’t seem to stop watching U.S. election coverage this time around. It has become so prevalent in our household that my eight-year-old son is asking to stay up to hear what Republican candidate Donald Trump is going to say next.
Even the third parties, which normally would provide a relief valve in these situations, aren’t offering much to be comfortable with. Whether it’s Gary ‘What’s Aleppo?’ Johnson, who famously couldn’t name one world leader outside the United States and at times barely seems convinced he is running for president; or the Green Party’s Jill Stein, whose major talking point is making student debt disappear through the “magic” of quantitative easing, the choices remain grim for U.S. voters.
Still, Canadians, and the world at large, need to be aware of how America’s vote will affect us all. The largest threat appears to be regarding trade, as both candidates seem lukewarm at best to international trade agreements. Trump in particular has consistently talked about reopening North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and possibly dumping parts he doesn’t like, insisting he can force a better deal for the United States. Democrat Hillary Clinton, for her part, has expressed reservations about trade agreements in general.
The tides of protectionism are rising worldwide, with Canada remaining one of the few jurisdictions making advances on the trade front. The recent Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, found itself caught in the crossfire for several weeks when Wallonia, a tiny French speaking enclave in southern Belgium, held up the agreement and almost killed it outright.
All this protectionist fervour spreading throughout the western world is bad news for Canada. Trade is not just a big business issue affecting only transnational corporations, it is an imperative for many smaller businesses in this country. More than half of small businesses in Canada import internationally while about 20 per cent export, primarily to the U.S. Instead of moving toward tighter border bureaucracy and trade barriers, it is essential the U.S. and Canada work toward facilitating the trade of goods and services between the engines of job growth in both countries — small and mediumsized businesses.
In light of this reality, I remain impressed with our government’s trade agenda, particularly the work being done by Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is showing herself to be a tough negotiator, including understanding that sometimes you have to walk away to get a deal done.
Instead of moving toward tighter border bureaucracy and trade barriers, it is essential the U.S. and Canada work toward facilitating the trade of goods and services between the engines of job growth in both countries — small and medium-sized businesses
As for our neighbours to the south, Freeland’s daunting task of confronting nationalistic trade policies may only be getting started. An example of the rough road that might possibly lie ahead is in the resource sector. While Trump has committed to moving ahead with the Keystone pipeline, albeit with the caveat that TransCanada Corp. give the U.S. “a big, big chunk of the profits, or even ownership rights,” Clinton appears locked in to saying no. This would be bad news, not just for the resource sector, but for our entire economy, too.
Americans are left with a very worrisome choice. What keeps me calm is that, whomever becomes the next president of the United States, the country’s system of checks and balances in Congress and the Senate, which can grind things to a halt at the best of times, might just be the protection the country, and the rest of the world, needs at what is arguably the worst of times.
As we await the results, Canadians can only sit back and watch the antics culminate during the next few days, and when the dust finally settles, be ready to immediately get to work promoting our agenda.