Close X
Thursday, December 26, 2024
ADVT 
National

Trump's New Threat, After Lumber Tax, On Canadian Dairy: 'Watch!'

The Canadian Press, 25 Apr, 2017 10:28 AM
    WASHINGTON — Fresh off slapping a duty on Canadian lumber, President Donald Trump is now making threats about dairy as the northern neighbour has suddenly, unexpectedly, become his No. 1 target for criticism lately on trade.
     
    The president tweeted Tuesday: "Canada has made business for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin and other border states very difficult. We will not stand for this. Watch!"
     
    That's what he wrote the morning after his government announced initial duties up to 24 per cent on Canadian lumber, with more expected later this year.
     
    Lumber and dairy are longstanding irritants — and were also a problem file under previous presidents. In softwood lumber, the countries have a once-a-decade cycle of tariffs, trade litigation, and ultimately settlements.
     
    What's new is how Trump is playing up the issue.
     
    While Barack Obama referred to lumber as a minor irritant, the self-styled America First president is playing up these irritants as examples of his desire to get tough on trade.
     
    His sudden flurry of complaints about Canada are a dramatic departure from the early days of his presidency — suddenly, he's complaining less about China and Mexico, and more about the northern neighbour.
     
    In an exchange late Monday with conservative media gathered at the White House, the president said, according to Breitbart News: "We love Canada, wonderful people, wonderful country, but they have been very good about taking advantage of us through NAFTA."
     
    Then his commerce secretary went out of his way to link this dispute to broader complaints, about dairy and about NAFTA: "It has been a bad week for U.S.-Canada trade relations," Wilbur Ross said.
     
    "This is not our idea of a properly functioning free trade agreement."
     
    The softwood spat is unfolding amid a much bigger trade issue — the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
     
    Despite remarks from the president and his cabinet secretary, neither lumber nor dairy are actually part of the current NAFTA. However, different actors would be pleased to add provisions on one or the other.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Prof Apologizes For Complaint Against B.C. Judge Hearing Sexual Assault Case

    Prof Apologizes For Complaint Against B.C. Judge Hearing Sexual Assault Case
    VANCOUVER — A law professor who filed a complaint against a British Columbia Supreme Court judge hearing a sexual assault case has issued an apology, saying there were no grounds for the claim.

    Prof Apologizes For Complaint Against B.C. Judge Hearing Sexual Assault Case

    American Woman Makes Unexpected Guilty Plea In Halifax Mall Murder Plot

    American Woman Makes Unexpected Guilty Plea In Halifax Mall Murder Plot
    HALIFAX — An American woman has pleaded guilty in a plot to kill shoppers at a Halifax mall on Valentine's Day, a potential massacre avoided by a Crime Stoppers tip to police.

    American Woman Makes Unexpected Guilty Plea In Halifax Mall Murder Plot

    Former Mountie Sentenced To 15 Years For Torturing His Son

    Former Mountie Sentenced To 15 Years For Torturing His Son
    OTTAWA — A former RCMP counter-terrorism officer has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars for torturing and starving his young son in the basement of the family's home.

    Former Mountie Sentenced To 15 Years For Torturing His Son

    Ontario Highway Closed As Wandering Beaver Refuses To Leave

    CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — A wandering beaver shut down part of a highway in southern Ontario on Wednesday as police worked to get the animal back to its natural habitat.

    Ontario Highway Closed As Wandering Beaver Refuses To Leave

    Premier Christy Clark Wishes 'Vaisakhi Di Lakh Lakh Vadai'!

    Premier Christy Clark Wishes 'Vaisakhi Di Lakh Lakh Vadai'!
    Over the next few days, hundreds of thousands of British Columbians join millions of Sikhs around the world to celebrate Vaisakhi.

    Premier Christy Clark Wishes 'Vaisakhi Di Lakh Lakh Vadai'!

    One Dead In Early Morning Fire At Langley, B.C., Seniors' Complex

    One Dead In Early Morning Fire At Langley, B.C., Seniors' Complex
    Residents say fire alarms went off just before 1 a.m., and flames were shooting from the balcony of a third floor suite by the time firefighters arrived.

    One Dead In Early Morning Fire At Langley, B.C., Seniors' Complex