The new Democratic majority in Congress is bad news for trade between the U.S. and Canada, according to some analysts cited by Canada's National Post.
Conventional wisdom says Republicans are more supportive of free trade. But the Bush Administration's signature policies include a package of trade-distorting subsidies to U.S. farmers and tariffs on steel and lumber, each intended to protect a segment of U.S. industry at the expense of others, not to mention costing consumers. Democrats tend to be sensitive to organized labor and some decry trade as bad for U.S. workers. The key is to remind politicians of all stripes that there's nothing inherently wrong with trade -- just poor trade policy.