######################################## #Written by David Tam, 1999. # #davidkftam@netscape.net Copyright 1999# ######################################## From tamda@ecf.toronto.edu Mon Jul 12 18:22:08 1999 Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 23:25:29 -0500 (EST) From: David Kar Fai Tam To: APS 424S #4-01/13/99-"U.S. plots 4-sector trade war" The Globe and Mail, Tuesday, January 12, 1999. A1, A4. The U.S. is, yet again, threatening to block the Canadian export of certain products. These include steel, textile and apparel, wood products, and plastics. This action was provoked by Canada's plan to protect domestic magazines. The Canadian government is proposing to disallow domestic advertisers from placing ads in split-run magazines. These are Canadian editions of U.S. magazines that they lack Canadian content. This trade war may cost Canadian companies $3 - $4 billion. Naturally, such a block would hurt Canadian exporters. These may cause a negative ripple effect among the Canadian economy. We live in a age of globalization / internationalization. Many Canadian companies generate a considerable amount of revenue through exports. At one point in time, Canada was the top exporter per capita among G7 nations. Many Canadian businesses are thinking globally and are benefiting greatly from the global economy. This shows that Canada is quite successful in this new world order. My recommendation is for Canada to quit dreaming up of new ways of imposing trade barriers under the claim of protecting Canadian culture. These potential barriers are counter-productive to the Canadian economy. Protectionism through tariffs and other trade barriers will only isolate our country from the rest of the global community. The Canadian government should realize that Canadian companies can compete sucessfully among the global competition.