Canada's scorn of Donald Trump's protectionism stinks of hypocrisy: Neil Macdonald

March 14, 2018

Just to irritate myself, I sometimes surf eBay's or Amazon's Canadian websites (I still don't know why the Canadian versions even exist), looking for some product I need.

Most recently, it was a pair of spectacle frames that are expensive, but which, I know from experience, fit my strangely shaped face.

The Amazon.ca sellers that offered them all turned out to be based abroad; you discover that when you type in your Canadian shipping address and watch the delivered price explode.

In the case of eBay, the experience is even more masochistic. Usually, a Canadian eBay seller doesn't have the product you need. EBay then helpfully lists a slew of American sellers who do, some of whom are willing, for a steep price, to pilot your purchase through the Canadian border blockade. Others just refuse to ship to Canada.

It's just one of the prices we pay for remaining a small, quasi-socialist state on a continent where, in general, markets are freer than anywhere in the world.

This was excerpted from the 13 March 2018 edition of CBC News.

Topic(s)

International Trade and Border Management

Information source

Canadian News Channel

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