Friday, August 12, 2005

Hooray for spines!

Canada finally starts talking tough on softwood lumber:
Federal and provincial officials accused the United States of reneging on the 11-year-old North American free-trade agreement, with Ottawa renewing threats to slap billions of dollars of sanctions on American goods if Washington doesn't recant...

Another top-ranked federal official said Ottawa is prepared to retaliate if the United States repudiates NAFTA. "Those rules cannot be flouted and they cannot be ignored," the official said. "If [the United States] ..... can't see fit to recognize the rule of law, to honour the agreement that it, itself, established, and to work toward a deal that is fair to all, they should not expect this federal government to take that sitting down."

A group of Liberal cabinet ministers, including International Trade Minister Jim Peterson, released a statement that questioned the U.S. government's support for the North American free-trade agreement. "This raises serious and fundamental questions about the United States's commitment to the NAFTA," the ministers said of U.S. intransigence on softwood duties.

Now, the only question is whether the unusually tough words will get translated into action. And it looks like there may be enough anger on the Canadian side for that to happen for a change.

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