Until literally 5 weeks ago, it was common knowledge and not debated that Canada has a very protectionist attitude toward its local industries, but I see that this has now become contentious because the orange windbag said something about it. Here is a list of several Canadian trade protections:
* The agricultural products that are well-known, including milk, lumber, and the famous Canadian maple syrup cartel
* Similar protections on minerals and other natural resources (including oil), and bans of foreign ownership of natural resource extraction companies
* Canadian TV and radio stations must play a certain fraction of Canadian content
* Significant restrictions on movement of goods between provinces of Canada, and inter-provincial tariffs that add up to quite a lot
* Canada's limits on foreign ownership of companies in the telecommunications and digital equipment sector, as well as companies involved in defense
* A ban on foreign ownership of residential property
* Canada's data localization laws and digital goods tax
I am fine with Canada having a lot of trade protections, but it does.
As the other reply said this is literally nothing. The Canadian maple syrup cartel. I'm literally laughing out loud. Common knowledge in what circles?
Most trade between the US and Canada is free. There is a free trade agreement.
Yes. Canada doesn't want to lose its artists so it supports local musicians. I mean everyone still listens to local TV and Radio stations here. We don't have the Internet in our logging camps.
There is no ban on foreign ownership of residential property. You must be confusing us with Australia.
[EDIT: Sorry but as you noted I am at least partly wrong here. Since 2022 [actually 2023] there are limitations on foreigners buying residential housing in Canada. It has a lot of loopholes but it still exists. You can still own residential property if you acquired it before even if you are a foreigner. This isn't really a trade question anyways].
There's some inter-provincial friction. Not sure what that has to do with anything. Gives the US an advantage.
You pay sales tax on stuff you buy online. That's true in the US as well. I know Amazon really wanted to get around that but hey.
The US supports US companies with various subsidies. It also has lower tax rates. Not fair.
US-Canada trade is a relatively free, win-win. It's not a zero sum game. Now the US administration wants to turn this into a lose-lose zero sum game over some imaginary drug and immigration issues with the border.
All of this adds up to jack-squat, diddly-nothing, when measured against the hundreds of billions of dollars of actual trade. And all represent existing pieces carved out at the time FTA and NAFTA were signed when I was like... 14 years old. And I'm old.
And all of them have corresponding restrictions within the US. You think Lockheed Martin isn't protected? That any Canadian company would be allowed to dominate aerospace or defense or telecoms (not that they could)
And what is this nonsense about "ban on foreign ownership of residential property"? Sounds like a good idea, but it does not exist
Where are you from? Because if you're from Canada, you sound woefully uneducated about your own nation.
(Interprovincial trade limitations are mostly on alcohol and are a remnant from prohibition era laws. And yes, they suck. The other area where the provinces have barriers is around professional certifications.)
I am not a Canadian, but I hope that if you are, you learn more about your own nation's trade policy than a foreigner.
Once again, I am not convinced that these protections are bad for Canada, but they absolutely are a huge subsidy for local business, and a very common tool for Canadian government.
Said "ban" is recent and full of loopholes and in response to a housing emergency
I can tell you that buying residential property in the US as a foreigner isn't a cakewalk either, my dude.
Ask yourself -- Why are you playing into this rhetoric about Canada? You seem like one of the people who 6 months ago would barely even acknowledge we exist, yet now you're an expert...
* The agricultural products that are well-known, including milk, lumber, and the famous Canadian maple syrup cartel
* Similar protections on minerals and other natural resources (including oil), and bans of foreign ownership of natural resource extraction companies
* Canadian TV and radio stations must play a certain fraction of Canadian content
* Significant restrictions on movement of goods between provinces of Canada, and inter-provincial tariffs that add up to quite a lot
* Canada's limits on foreign ownership of companies in the telecommunications and digital equipment sector, as well as companies involved in defense
* A ban on foreign ownership of residential property
* Canada's data localization laws and digital goods tax
I am fine with Canada having a lot of trade protections, but it does.