Here’s a letter to American Spectator.
Editor:
Brabim Karki’s attempt to deodorize Trump’s latest tariffs on Americans’ purchases of Canadian goods is akin to dousing a pile of manure with skunk musk (“Trump’s Canada Tariffs Aren’t the Betrayal Ottawa Claims,” August 23).
It’s true that Canada imposes extraordinarily high obstacles on some U.S. exports, especially dairy products. But the asymmetry that Mr. Karki describes runs in both directions. The U.S. imposes substantial tariffs and other trade barriers on several Canadian exports, including softwood lumber, which is subject to a 10 percent Section 232 tariff in addition to significant anti-dumping and countervailing duties.
Nor is it accurate to infer from Canada’s exceptionally high tariffs on a handful of politically sensitive products that Canada’s overall tariff treatment of U.S. goods is more restrictive than America’s treatment of Canadian goods. The Bank of Canada estimated that as recently as July the average U.S. tariff on Canadian goods was about 5 percent, compared to about 1.5 percent for Canada’s average tariff on U.S. goods. These figures predate the just-imposed U.S. tariffs.
Mr. Karki is therefore correct that Canada has erected formidable protectionist barriers around certain industries. But his assertion that there’s a clear tariff “asymmetry” favoring Canadian producers over American producers is unwarranted. The U.S. has its own substantial and sometimes punitive barriers against Canadian products – and Americans, not Canadians, ultimately bear the economic burden of tariffs imposed on goods they purchase.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
