Canada and U.S.A - Trade Wars

Canada and U.S.A - Trade Wars

ca.yahoo.com

cnews.canoe.ca...

'There's no question about it that some of our members and even non-members export work to the U.S. and it's a substantial part of their business," said Mike Gilmor, president of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction.

'We obviously have grave, grave concerns."

(visit the link for the full news article)

This cannot be good.

Buy America may put many Countries outta work...
Especially here in Canada because we are the largest trading partners in the world.


[edit on 30-1-2009 by xbranscombex]

Gawd, I hate it that Canada may be hurt by O's new policies.

I'm all for retooling our infrastructure....but not in the way Obamaniac is going about it!

I can see it now: Obama policy to hurt our allies and help our freakin' foes.

Solution

- Stop selling them our lumber, or mark it up 300% above Canadian prices

- Stop supplying them with oil

- Revoke all reciprocal tax agreements

Uh... maybe we're just not feeling like trading because we want to develop our own economy right now and if we send resources outwards then we won't have any for our own industries? I don't know... just a thought. I wish everything was better so we wouldn't have to worry about stuff like this.

What if it is a trade war that gives birth to the NAU and not all the other reasons that have been speculated? Something to think about. I'd suggest keeping an eye on this.

[edit on 30-1-2009 by A NeWorlDisorder]

The top Americans will lose profit on this, considering the fact that Americans probably own every last business in Canada.

I don't think NAFTA would allow this to happen anyway.

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
Uh... maybe we're just not feeling like trading because we want to develop our own economy right now and if we send resources outwards then we won't have any for our own industries? I don't know... just a thought. I wish everything was better so we wouldn't have to worry about stuff like this.

This is the double-edged sword of protectionism.

On one hand, the USA has trade agreements and treaty obligations to uphold, and on the other... what you've described above.

If the USA follows through, it will lead to litigation at the WTO - not just from Canada, but from others as well.

If they don't, it will hurt American workers.

If they do, it will hurt trade relations with the rest of the world, and likely lead to punitive measures, like tariffs and trade barriers, and if it escalates, possibly even nations pulling out of trade agreements with the USA entirely.

If they don't, American families will suffer.

If they do, it's going against the free and open market ideology that the USA has been demanding of the rest of the world - and especially of it's trading partners - for a few generations now.

There's no easy road out of this one, especially now that the option has been put on the table. Everyone is hurting, not just the USA - which is why it's almost a certainty that there will be fallout if this passes. Because the USA is hurting, there will be fallout if it doesn't.

Hopefully Obama has the vision to see this one through. It's not a choice I'd want to have to make.

Originally posted by Yarcofin
Solution

- Stop selling them our lumber, or mark it up 300% above Canadian prices

- Stop supplying them with oil

- Revoke all reciprocal tax agreements

Yep. All that. And... make sure they don't touch our Arctic interests. Sure they gave us free trade and Canada thought it was a huge deal for us. But since then, the U.S. tries to undermine us (see softwood lumber) and take adavantage of us.

You'd think in times like these, they'd actually start treating us like their allies.

Uh hello lets get a few things straight here. There is no trade war as far as I know. All they want to do is to spend American dollars on American products and consumers. That is if the US government spends borrowed money to supposedly pump the economy, they have every right to specify that the money be spent on US businesses.

Or do you propose that US taxpayer dollars be spent to prop up Canadian businesses instead?

Exactly where is the US supposed to get enough raw materials to keep themselves supplied? especially at the levels that Canada provides the US with.

This is a mistake that could severely hurt both countries.

This same strategy was attempted before the last great depression, some argue ceasing trade was what turned the recession into the full economic collapse in the 30's.

The US is a consumer nation.
Without nations to consume from, what are they? Nothing.

Canada is an export nation, without the US to export to, their economy also tanks.


I had a thought bouncing around in this head of mine, one that disturbed me if true.

There are many people we have come across lately who desire to see the US, Canada, and Mexico formed under one Union.
Their strategy is pretty plain, wait for a crisis, and use that as an excuse to unify the 3 nations.

Putting the brakes on the trade of any nation is economic suicide.

Perhaps this will provide the NAU supporters the crisis they need. North America will be desperate to get the funds and goods flowing again if this happens.

Desperate enough perhaps to agree to a union.

reply to post by johnsky


We (Canadians) export resources at a loss to the United States (relative to the prices other nation will pay for them).

We should have renegotiated all trade agreements once the Americans started torturing people and then again when the WMDs were not found.

*Canada should also establish it own nuclear arsenal. This will aid in the renegotiating of trade agreements - Mutually Assured Destruction.

America is a rogue nation - Canada should treat rogue nations differently than those who follow the rule of law.

People often remark about how China would be hit the hardest from the economic downturn in the US. However from the numbers I have looked at I believe Canada would be one of the hardest if not the hardest hit and China would actually fair better then many think. America is Canada's largest export partner by far, the US accounts for 79% of Canadian exports, the next largest being the UK at a mere 2.8%. The US is also China's largest export partner but in comparison only accounts for 19.1% of Chinese exports, Hong Kong is the next largest partner at 15.1%.

The next important number to look at is US exports as the percentage of GDP. Canada has a GDP of $1.5 trillion, exports account for $461 billion of the GDP or 31% of GDP. Since the US accounts for 79% of the Canada export market about 25% of Canadan GDP comes directly from exporting goods to the US. China has a GDP of $4.2 trillion, exports account for $1.5 trillion of the GDP or 36% of GDP. The US accounts for 19.1% of the Chinese export market which means about 7% of China's GDP comes directly from exporting goods to the US.

I thought I would post this because I have read countless posts about how the US recession was all planned and it was done to hurt China. Well if that is the case then it's absolutely going to devastate Canada, not to mention America itself because not only is America a large export parnter for Canada but Canada is a large export partner for America and accounts for 21.4% of American exports. China on the other hand only accounts for 5.6% of American exports.

www.cia.gov...

[edit on 31-1-2009 by Jacob08]