Ah, my apologies. Not that I personally see how it makes much difference. When you see the US lose decision after decision in various and sundry NAFTA appeals processes, and still refuse to drop softwood lumber tariffs, one becomes somewhat jaded to the possibility of the protectionist forces down there ever actually living up to their agreements. And of course it’s not just softwood lumber. The only Canadian exports that don’t seem to be under threat of tariff are oil and natural gas. Well, colour me surprised.
That said, this issue is the one small solace I’m taking out of your recent election. The GOP gains should favour the free traders over the protectionists. So I have a chance to be slightly more affluent as the handbasket descends into the flames.
If you want to muck around with US politics, you need to give lots of money to some campaign funds. Silly trade wars and actual issues don’t make a dent in these parts. We Yanks vote on fear and smear, smear and fear. Voters don’t know what the WTO is. We just wanna know who’s going to ban the Bible, and Og forbid a candidate should say something nice about France! :rolleyes:
International trade isn’t “U.S. politics.” It’s international trade. Your trading partners are applying pressure to encourage the United States to actually scrap policies that have been ruled illegal by the WTO. You know, actually doing what your membership in the WTO requires you to do.
They’re using the same methods that the U.S. uses to try to get what they want out of your trading partners.
It’s exactly like the way the United States imposed heavy tariffs against Canada to gain bargaining power in the ongoing softwood lumber disputes. Exactly the same except that you’re not encouraging Canada to abide by the WTO’s ruling. The WTO has ruled in our favour and y’all are applying tariffs to try to get us to overlook that and make concessions anyway.
So: Foreign governments applying pressure to get the U.S. to meet their obligations: BAD. U.S. government applying the same type of pressure to foreign governments to try to get out of meeting their obligations: HUNKY-DORY.
You are joking I assume. Does Operation Gladio ring a bell? (OK, so it was started before the EU, but it was certainly direct interference with Western European, in particular Italian, politics)
http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/gladio.html will give a basic idea, though I can’t vouch for the site itself. I’ve read more stuff, but if you need I am sure I could find a whole bunch of web cites for you.
