Canada’s Leader Rips U.S. Trade Actions : Commerce: Prime Minister Brian Mulroney says American decisions to slap duties on car and lumber imports smack of protectionism.

Trying to persuade the United States to drop new import duties and to gain political points at home, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney lashed out Monday at what he called U.S. trade protectionism.

Angered by last week’s U.S. decisions to slap duties on Canadian cars and lumber exports, Mulroney launched a media and political campaign to try to sway public opinion on both sides of the border.

“These disputes constitute vexatious harassment and are not based in international trade law,” the Conservative leader told Parliament. “They are based on pure politics at a lower level in the United States of America.”

Over the weekend, he said Canada’s biggest trading partner is acting in a way unworthy of a major power.

A Mulroney spokesman said the Cabinet will meet this week to discuss what Ottawa might do in retaliation for the U.S. moves.

“We will do whatever we have to do at an appropriate time,” Mulroney said.

Mark Entwistle, Mulroney’s press secretary, said, “The Cabinet will look at a whole range of options.”

Last year, trade between Canada and the United States totaled $168 billion.

“Canadians think they are getting screwed,” said Gordon Ritchie, former deputy chief negotiator of the Canada-U.S free trade deal. “They didn’t expect a free ride under the deal, but they didn’t expect it to be worse.”

Mulroney, who prides himself on a close relationship with George Bush, told the President Sunday in a telephone call that the U.S. actions smacked of harassment.

Over the weekend, Mulroney said in an interview, “If you told me that some tin-pot dictator in some tiny little country somewhere was engaging in this kind of harassment, I’d say, ‘So what else is new?’ But for the United States, this is most unworthy.”

Mulroney’s aggressive tone became sharper after Friday, when the U.S. Department of Commerce ruled that Canada was subsidizing softwood lumber exports to the United States. The finding meant that a temporary duty of 15% will continue for the time being.

Mulroney had earlier accused U.S. Customs Service officials of low-level politics for determining that Honda Civics made in Canada did not meet content rules for cars built in North America.

In its ruling last Monday, the Customs Service said certain Honda Civics assembled in Canada do not qualify for duty-free treatment because less than 50% of their components are North American in origin.

The U.S. ruling on softwood lumber could cost Canadian producers $400 million a year at a time when Mulroney is trying to revive the economy before a Canadian general election, expected by next year.

Mulroney, whose popularity is at an all-time low--only 11% of voter support--said he is confident that Canada will win its trade disputes.

“He (Mulroney) can only win by making strong public statements,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political scientist at the University of Toronto. “Canadians are generally suspicious of the U.S.”

But he has also said that the disputes undermine Canadian confidence in the existing U.S.-Canada free trade agreement and reduce support for expansion of the free trade zone to include Mexico.