Canada should pull out of NAFTA and return to WTO

[JohnyCanuck]

A simple solution to U.S. bullying
Canada can pull out of free trade agreements and return to WTO without penalty, say Mel Clark and David Orchard

In the flurry of outrage over the U.S. refusal to comply with the latest NAFTA ruling on lumber, something is missing. Editorials abound, former negotiators and promoters of NAFTA are talking tough, calling the Americans names. Others suggest ill-conceived threats or demand that the Prime Minister "talk" to President George W. Bush.

Nowhere in these responses is there a concrete plan of how Canada should respond.

Lost in the cacophony of bluster is the fact that Canada is already part of a coherent rules-based trade agreement with the United States. It is called the World Trade Organization, formerly the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and it has the mechanisms already in place to enable Canada to emerge a clear winner from the current situation.

<snip>

In other words, the FTA and NAFTA, instead of giving us more secure U.S. market access, unleashed the full force of U.S. protectionism to be used against Canada in a way that was not possible under GATT/WTO.

From the Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1124747413174&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

Not that I expect in this day and age any of our toadying Liberal or Conservative politicians would even contemplate such a step as to pull out of NAFTA and tell the US they can take a hike with their "heads we win, tails you loose" free trade deal.

[Hobarticus]

1. Can't say I'd blame them if they did bail on NAFTA...

Bush acts like the rotten neighbor kid in the sandbox that no one wants to play with.

[whistle]

2. I totally agree

[Maple]

3. Or we could join

the EU.

Our head of state is already a member.