RSS FeedBlack Liquor Sparks New Trade Feud and Old Controversies
Is Canada listening to calls to assert our national interests?
On Thursday, Canada joined the EU, Brazil and Chile in demanding the withdrawal of tax credits in the U.S. for black liquor.
The credits are estimated at $4-8 billion, passed in 2007, and intended for energy alternatives in paper mills and cogeneration facilities. Paper manufacturers have started mixing F-T diesel with a kraft process byproduct known as black liquor to meet the definition of the tax credit, which Canada claims is hurting Canadian jobs.
Although President Obama wants to terminate the rebate on Oct. 1, Canada and the other countries are threatening action through the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In light of a global recession caused by what some consider fiscal mismanagement and overzealous deregulation in the U.S., Canada’s controversial and convoluted trade relationship with the U.S. warrants greater scrutiny.
Confessions of an Obamaniac in Canada
Obamania… Mania.. in the House
With the U.S. presidential elections only days away now, it seems we might just have a president that is more popular abroad than he is at home for the first time in many years.
The French are ecstatic, and have high hopes of reverting back to their name for fried shreds of potato.
Other Europeans offer more succinct explanations. Simon Heffer of the Daily Telegraph says,
Many Britons will feel it would be rather nice to have a vote, too. Well, maybe not a whole vote: I would settle for one worth 50 per cent of those cast by American citizens.
Canada is no exception, with “Obamania” sweeping the country. Some Canadian commentators attribute this to an anti-Bush sentiment – frustration with unilateralism and naked self-interests at the rest of the world’s expense.
But Thomas Walkom offers a word of caution,
Which U.S. presidential candidate talks of expanding the war on terror by attacking more countries? If you answered John McCain, you’re wrong. The correct response, of course, is Barack Obama.
