Great article on Canada, the U.S. and Free Trade

Deal ends myth of free trade
28 April 2006. 08.16 AM
THOMAS WALKOM

Think of the latest deal on softwood lumber as a wake-up call — not just for those Canadians who make their living sawing down trees, but for all of us.

It is a wake-up call in two ways.

First, it demonstrates the futility of trying to bind the United States through bilateral free trade deals.

The 1989 Canada-U.S. Free Trade deal and its successor, the North American Free Trade Agreement were designed specifically to solve trade disputes like that of softwood lumber. But they did not and cannot. The U.S. government is a complex beast that, in the end, will always act in American interests. That is reality.

If this reality requires Washington to ignore solemn trade covenants — particularly when dealing with minor countries like Canada — it will do so happily.

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