Given the understandable opposition to U.S demands that would transform NAFTA from a free trade agreement into a managed trade agreement, it is easy to ignore Canadian demands that would turn it into a managed social policy agreement.
One of the biggest underlying flaws in U.S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer's NAFTA wish list is the notion that one can manage free trade. But managed free trade is a bit like jumbo shrimp, an oxymoron if ever there was one. It is an attempt to make predictable something which is inherently unpredictable – the economic marketplace. Trade makes a large contribution to economic growth, by forcing people and companies to compete. One doesn't promote competition by diminishing the need to engage in it.
Read Full Article »