(Reuters) -The 1987 radio address by the former U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the centre of a new U.S.-Canada row was a defence of free but fair trade in which he explained his decision to put duties on Japanese goods in a trade dispute. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that all trade talks with Canada […]
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Reagan 1987 address was defence of free but fair trade
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(Reuters) -The 1987 radio address by the former U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the centre of a new U.S.-Canada row was a defence of free but fair trade in which he explained his decision to put duties on Japanese goods in a trade dispute.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that all trade talks with Canada were terminated following what he called a fraudulent advertisement by the Canadian province of Ontario in which Reagan was featured speaking negatively about tariffs.
Separately, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation issued a statement saying the ad used “selective audio and video” and misrepresented the address.
REAGAN WAS EXPLAINING JAPAN TARIFFS MOVE
Reagan’s five-minute statement contains a strong defence of the benefits of free trade, while explaining his decision the week before to impose tariffs on Japan due to its “inability to enforce their trade agreement with us on electronic devices called semiconductors”.
“We expect our trading partners to live up to their agreements. As I’ve often said: Our commitment to free trade is also a commitment to fair trade,” he said.
He added that while trade restrictions of any kind were a step he was “loath to take”, the U.S. had evidence in the “special case” of unfair trade practices by Japanese companies.
That is followed by the lengthy warning of the dangers of trade protectionism used in the Ontario ad, in which Reagan cites how it contributed to the economic misery experienced in the 1930s Great Depression.
“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,” he said of a spiral that leads to higher prices and less competition. “Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs”.
He concludes by looking forward to imminent talks with the Japanese premier on the matter and warning against any moves in Congress towards more protectionism that would tie his hands in trade dealings with foreign governments.
He added: “Remember, America’s jobs and growth are at stake.”
BIPARTISAN TREND AWAY FROM FREE TRADE
Reagan, a Republican icon who died in 2004, was in power from 1981 to 1989, before the rise of globalisation during the post-Cold War era and more than a decade before China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.
His staunch advocacy of free trade contrasted sharply with the more recent bipartisan trend in U.S. politics towards more protectionism, culminating in the widespread tariffs and trade restrictions favoured by the Trump administration.
Much of what in 1994 became the North American Free Trade Agreement could be traced back to Reagan, who called for a “developing closeness among Canada, Mexico and the United States” when he announced his presidential run in 1979.
In his final State of the Union address in January 1988, he declared: “Our goal must be a day when the free flow of trade, from the tip of Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic Circle unites the people of the Western Hemisphere in a bond of mutually beneficial exchange.”
(Reporting by Mark John and Dan Burns, Editing by William Maclean and Alex Richardson)