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Readers React: A ‘tariffed steel’ curtain between Canada and the U.S.? Let’s hope not

The Peace Bridge border crossing in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2005.
(Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images)
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To the editor: As a resident of Minnesota, a state often called Canada’s 11th province, complete with thousands of jobs and millions of dollars depending on a decent trade relationship with Canada, I can say that the tough-guy talk emanating from Washington on the North American Free Trade Agreement isn’t making us feel so good.

Actually, it’s reminding me of Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech from 1946. Instead of an iron barrier descending upon Eastern Europe, one almost sees a highly tariffed steel wall rising along the 49th parallel — reinforced by autos, motorcycles and various agricultural commodities produced in states more dependent on Canadian trade than they might have wanted to realize.

Of course, Europe’s Iron Curtain did fall one day. Let’s hope a wall built from the remains of a failed NAFTA never sees any American or Canadian light of day.

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Mary Stanik, St. Paul, Minn.

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