Free-Trade Agreement

The U.S. and Canada have a free-trade agreement. Yes? Well, maybe--it’s free trade for U.S. goods north, but the southbound trade is not so free. That is because the U.S. feels free to impose tariffs or embargoes whenever it wants.

A recent example is the tariff that the U.S. slapped on Canadian lumber, saying that the Canucks subsidized their lumber industry and hence is in unfair competition with the U.S. lumber industry.

Probably they do provide some support for their lumber industry. But I will bet it is nothing like the massive support the U.S. provides for our timber industry. More than one-third of the Forest Services’ $3-billion budget is in direct support of the timber industry and this does not take into account the absurdly low price the Forest Service charges the timber industry for the trees (our trees) that it sells.

ALAN C. NIXON, Berkeley