EDITORIAL Protectionism self-defeating

Wiser heads are appearing in the U.S., though they are seemingly not prevailing, concerning the issue of protectionism, a mood in that country that is seriously threatening the possibility of a free trade agreement between Canada and the U.S.

That agreement, at the time of writing, was entering a critical stage as the chief negotiators for the two countries, Simon Reisman for Canada, and Peter Murphy for the U.S., were set to play their final hands in a bid to reach a draft agreement before the October 5 deadline.

Meantime, in San Francisco, Robert Malott, chairman of Chicago-based FMC Corporation, active in mining and one of the world’s leading machinery producers for industry, was issuing a stern warning to protectionists in an address to the American Mining Congress.

“We will not,” Mr Malott said, “reclaim our leadership in the world marketplace — much less continue to improve our standard of living — by hobbling our competitors. Protectionism can only weaken the incentives for Americian industry to invest in new plants and equipment, to pursue innovative new products and techniques, and to spur the still-sluggish pace of productivity growth. Moreoever, protectionism can only dampen our sense of urgency at a time when we need to act decisively to reverse the long-term decline in our ability to compete in world markets.”

That’s a message we’d like to see really hit the protectionist zealots in Washington, as well as industry leaders themselves. Unfortunately, it may be a little too late to help the free trade accord, which, in recent weeks, has not been showing all that much hope of realization.

It can’t, though, be written off just yet.

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