Robert's Rants
Robert's Rants
A personal blog on the Canadian pesticide industry and other pet peeves and interests

So did you check? But let’s talk numbers

Okay…I almost forgot but something has been bugging my arse…that’s a really cool word we should use more often.

Have you been following the NAFTA debate?   Softwood lumber and automobiles.

Yes it’s serious, very serious, powerfully serious.

My vote????  If it mattered?   Kill NAFTA and let free trade rule.  NAFTA has nothing to do with free trade.

But boil it all down to a pot of stew and it’s still simply who wants to make the most money out of the deal…from a politicians standpoint only.  Tit for tat doesn’t exist anymore.

It’s like the wife’s wedding vow “what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine”  (not my wife of course but I heard that from other guys…)

But Trump says the scale is unbalanced, that there is a grossly disproportionate amount of the trade dollars ending up in Mexico and Canada hands.

Here’s the argument on soft wood lumber in a nut-shell:

The US timber farmer (rancher?) has to have his own land in most cases.  This requires him to make more inputs into producing his lumber.

Where the Government of Canada simply cuts some wood for a new 3000 mile pipeline, stacks it by the road and HALLELUJAH!

And what US auto companies are caught up in fighting Canadian auto makers???    Might as well throw the Mexicans in on that one.  Not much market for soft cactus…whoops…hand me a shot and a lime.

NAFTA is so full of trade agreements, “balance” so to speak, that it’s become meaningless.

What country had the bright idea in the first place?