For the nth time, Canada has won a trade court decision saying that the $5 BILLION dollars that the US has charged on Canadian lumber is not legal. This has gone through every level of WTO and NAFTA. $5 Billion is an awful lot of jobs and profits lost.
How much longer will this travesty go on? Why even have trade deals if they won't be followed? Why not just put up huge tariffs on everything coming in and then just wait for the unemployment rate to hit 30%.
I hope my many American friends can understand the frustation that people around the world feel when negotiated treaties are simply ignored or not followed. It basically sends a message that the US will follow international treaties only when it wants. I'm not surprised given the history of US negotiations over the past couple hundred years and the current administration regime.
It's typical for a strong nation/person/company to ignore deals with other entities when it suits them. But don't be surprised when others don't flock to your aid or support your hypocritical stances.
And don't also be surprised or shocked if the other parties use whatever edge they have against what they perceive as bullying and bad faith negotiations. I can't imagine what would happen if Canada retaliated by stopping natural gas and oil shipments to the US, given that Canada is either the largest or 2nd largest supplier of oil to the US. I know that the NAFTA deal guarantees Americans access to Canadian and Mexican resources at market prices, but hey, we don't need no stinking trade deals. I'm sure China would be quite happy to buy whatever oil or gas we wanted to sell. Oh, right, they're already here as Canadian Natural Resources and it's $10 B oil sands project is basically a China shell company.
However, that way leads to madness and good friends and partners should have to go that way. The way forward is for the US to live up to the deals that it signs.