I think its about time...

OTTAWA - Canada plans to impose a 15 per cent surtax on imports of U.S. cigarettes, oysters, live swine and some types of fish starting May 1.

Ottawa said Thursday it is slapping on the duties to retaliate against the United States for its failure to comply with the World Trade Organization ruling on the Byrd Amendment.

The amendment allows U.S. producers to receive anti-dumping and countervailing duties collected by the U.S. government from foreign competitors.

The WTO has ruled the amendment is illegal, and in November 2004, the trade body gave Canada and the other co-complainants the authority to retaliate.

Canada's decision to retaliate came as the European Union took similar action. The EU is planning 15 per cent tariffs on U.S. paper, textiles, machinery and farm produce beginning May 1.

"For the last four years, Canada and a number of other countries have repeatedly urged the United States to repeal the Byrd Amendment," International Trade Minister Jim Peterson said.

"Retaliation is not our preferred option, but it is a necessary action. International trade rules must be respected," Peterson said in a release.

It's only going to hurt us, the consumers of those goods.

It's only going to hurt us, the consumers of those goods.
"Made in Canada."

This was a long time comming but I don't think it will change the American's minds.

TRADE WAR!!!

So much for NAFTA. Woor must be ecstatic by now.

lol Yeah.

The future is going to be interesting.

Very. What with the Pope dying, and the moon ripening (who knew?) it';s only a matter of time before we all live in popsicle stick huts on the edge of the Mackenzie river, waiting for the sun to come back up (cause it's nucular winter again) and such and such.

The future is going to be very interesting.

[edit]

BAh...nevermind.

Hmmm...the US already has a $65 million trade deficit with Canada.

Just how high would you like it to be?

Hmmm...the US already has a $65 million trade deficit with Canada.

Just how high would you like it to be?
Another example of coercive tactics.

..."Retaliation is not our preferred option, but it is a necessary action. International trade rules must be respected," Peterson said in a release.

Very interesting. Is all this ever going to end?

Damn it Koz! "It's only going to hurt us, the consumers of those goods."
Hurt me baby!
__________________

U.S haven't learnt their lesson? After all those actions taken by E.U to stop their selfishness and illigal protectionist policies. WTO must take action.

"Made in Canada."

Oh no! We won't have anymore maple syrup.

..

BOOOOO YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

WHAAAAAAT!?
AHH WHAAAAT!?
OOOOOOKAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

*clears throat*
Anyways, yes I'm glad Canada finally hit puberty. Congradulations little buddy.

BOOOOO YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

WHAAAAAAT!?
AHH WHAAAAT!?
OOOOOOKAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

*clears throat*
Anyways, yes I'm glad Canada finally hit puberty. Congradulations little buddy.

lmfao!!

BOOOOO YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

WHAAAAAAT!?
AHH WHAAAAT!?
OOOOOOKAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

*clears throat*
Anyways, yes I'm glad Canada finally hit puberty. Congradulations little buddy.

Now all Canada needs to do is find a girlfriend, then we'd be set :nocrook:

I say Canada should hook up with Iceland. I'd bang her.

Canada has enough ice.....let's get some Spanish action.

But Spain is too old for Canada... Canada needs a Northern beauty that is still quite young. Hence why I thought of Iceland.
Norway, Finland, Sweden were all hot bitches in their day, but that was back in medievil times.

But Spain is too old for Canada... Canada needs a Northern beauty that is still quite young. Hence why I thought of Iceland.
Norway, Finland, Sweden were all hot bitches in their day, but that was back in medievil times.


LOL!!

It's only going to hurt us, the consumers of those goods.

So? Suck it up for your country! You can live without oysters and live swine.

I heard earlier a rumour that they'd slap one on florida oranges.

...I heard earlier a rumour that they'd slap one on florida oranges.

Oh man, that's gonna hurt. Did you know that according to Nationmaster.com Canada is the world's highest percapita consumer of fruit juice? I know I go through plenty. That's why we need to annex Cuba. So we can grow our own oranges. :yes:

We shouldn't add a surtax on goods we can't provide for are selves, even in the Okanogan would have trouble with growing Oranges.

^ well we can buy it from other coutries at cheaper prices

We shouldn't add a surtax on goods we can't provide for are selves, even in the Okanogan would have trouble with growing Oranges.

I've thought about that - growing citrus in greenhouses in parts of Canada. We could definately grow lemons and that's about all. The problem with growing citrus - even in greenhouses - in Canada is that we don't really get enough sunlight much of the year for citrus to really make the trees bloom, and if they did bloom, we would have trouble getting the fruit to sweeten due to lack of heat for most of the year. Lemons don't need to sweeten, so we likely could grow those.

I grow citrus in Mexico.

It would be much cheaper just to import citrus from places like Mexico and Cuba. My grapefruit (grown in Mexico) are as good as anything grown in Florida (among the best in the world) and our tangeloes must be the best in the world - far better than those grown in the US.

U.S. lumber lobby a 'cancer': Emerson

By BARRIE MCKENNA

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 Page B4

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. lumber industry has exposed itself as a protectionist "cancer" by trying to kill NAFTA's dispute settlement system, Canadian Industry Minister David Emerson says.

A constitutional challenge launched yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals will backfire by turning the Bush administration against the Washington-based Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, Mr. Emerson told reporters.

"It is going to, for once, cause people . . . to really look at this coalition as protectionist, and recognize what a cancer they have become for NAFTA," Mr. Emerson said after a meeting in Washington with his U.S. counterpart, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

He said Canada regards the dispute-settling Chapter 19 as the heart of the North American free-trade agreement.

"You can't simply kill Chapter 19 . . . and expect the rest to live on," said Mr. Emerson, a former lumber executive.

The coalition argued in a 47-page filing yesterday that NAFTA's dispute settlement regime is unconstitutional because it denies Americans "due process" in U.S. courts.

The Bush administration vowed yesterday to vigorously defend NAFTA and its dispute settlement system. A U.S. trade official added that the Bush administration's position demonstrates its commitment to NAFTA.

"We remain firmly committed to NAFTA as an institution and we remain fully committed to defending it," the official said, adding that he hoped Ottawa would "delink" all the legal cases and negotiate a solution to the long-running dispute.

In Ottawa, Trade Minister Jim Peterson dismissed the constitutional challenge and vowed to continue pressing the United States to respect a recent NAFTA panel ruling that found the tariffs on Canadian lumber illegal.

"This is nothing more than a veiled attempt by the U.S. Coalition to undo the softwood victories that Canada has achieved through the NAFTA," he said.

But Harvey Kurzweil, the lead litigator for the coalition, complained that NAFTA panels are "basically kingdoms unto themselves," which exist outside the bounds of U.S. laws. He added that numerous NAFTA panel rulings dating back more than 15 years could be invalidated if the coalition wins its case.

"If we prevail, U.S. agencies would not be bound by NAFTA panel decisions," he said.

The case can be automatically appealed by either side directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, possibly delaying a final resolution for years.

Finland's actually pretty young too, just aged pretty quickly. A lot of those central European countries were pretty early bloomers