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NAFTA. It hurts the US and turns us into a welfare supplier for Canada and Mexico
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Now you've touched a nerve... (Could this thread get anymore offtopic - we should really start a new thread titled "airspirit tells all" or something)
I dont know about mexico but I dont know how the hell you can say the US has become a welfare supplier for Canada NAFTA or not. What are you basing this claim on? Can you provide a source?
Look I know the softwood lumber situation sucked from the US POV but you're missing a key point... the US government has done something about it (sky high tarrifs)... The fact that its (unfairly) screwing the canadian lumber producers pisses the canadians off a bit but the fact remains that the US is doing something about it (successfully).
... Mind you part the reason why the canadians are so 'upity' about the tarrifs and calling them unfair is that US companies have had the same effect on some canadian markets that the canadian lumber producers are having on the US lumber market. The only difference was that when it happened to the canadian markets the canadian government let it slide because nafta said we had to. To many the perception is that the US in favor of NAFTA so long as its benefiting the US but once its not entirely beneficial, the US ignores nafta and puts tarrifs in place.
Personally I have mixed feelings about the lumber dispute. The US should and does have a right to protect its markets but where do you draw the line? You cant just 'take, take, take'. You have to give a little too.
What scares many canadians is what happens when the americans essentially demand (under NAFTA) that the canadians supply them with drinking water.