Attack of the killer tomatoes.

March 11, 2002 2:38 PM

Attack of the killer tomatoes. Steel isn't the only product involved in protectionist tariffs.
posted by gimonca (3 comments total)

See also the dispute between the US and Canada over softwood lumber - a fairly even handed account of which can be found here. It's been going on for around a year now, and it's hit some parts of British Columbia hard.
posted by pascal at 7:22 PM on March 11, 2002

Even-handed, my ass.

The bottom line is that Canada, unlike the USA, has no shortage of trees, and we have freakin' huge, amazing mills up here that create bugger-all waste.

Hellza, you wouldn't expect to purchase fresh lobster as cheaply in Denver as you would in Maine; you wouldn't expect to purchase fresh fruit as cheaply in Japan as you would in California; and you can't expect to buy trees as cheaply in the Minnesota (<54 000 000 acres forest total, not all of which can be harvested) as you do in British Columbia (128 000 000 acres harvestable forest).

The US is just peachy-keen-happy with Free Trade... only when it works in its favour.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:17 PM on March 11, 2002

Actually, I agree with you. I linked to that article not because I live in Minnesota (I don't) - but because I wanted to link to an article that covered both sides of the case to a reasonable level of detail and wasn't from a Canadian source that would automatically be dismissed by Americans. Google turned up that one. If you actually read the article to the end, you'll find that overall they seem to be coming down against the tariffs.
posted by pascal at 11:17 PM on March 11, 2002