LILLEY: Regardless of who replaces Biden, Canada faces protectionism

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Last week it was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, this week, Joe Biden has announced he is stepping down as the presumptive Democratic Party candidate for president. American politics is living up to that old saying: May you live in interesting times.

Biden issued a statement just before 2 p.m. on Sunday stating that he was stepping down as candidate but staying on as president.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote.

Shortly after, he posted to social media that he is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party’s nominee. That statement was followed shortly thereafter by endorsements of Harris by Bill and Hillary Clinton, though strangely not Barack Obama, who only issued a statement thanking Biden for his service.

It’s not clear at this point that Harris will be the Democratic Party candidate despite the wishes of Biden and many in the donor class. There are people scouring the party rules looking to see what must be done and whether convention delegates in Chicago next month must be given a say.

What does all of this really mean for Canadians, though?

We watch American politics in this country, some even pay more attention to what happens in Washington more than what happens in Ottawa. One could argue that the American presidential race doesn’t really affect our daily lives north of the border but given the impact of America on our country, we know that not to be true.

The biggest thing to know about Harris is that, like Biden, she is an economic protectionist. She has claimed not to be in the past but has spoken out against our free-trade agreement and pushed for many of the protectionist elements in the administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.

If Harris were to be the party’s nominee and win the election, she’d be every bit as protectionist as Biden, the most protectionist president Canada has seen in decades.

The protectionist push in the White House took off under Obama, got worse under Trump and went on steroids under Biden. He increased the tariff on softwood lumber, continues to threaten our pork and beef producers through labelling requirements and has opposed the import of Canadian oil as a way to boost American production.

As for Biden’s actions on the auto industry, his original plan, which became part of the Inflation Reduction Act, wouldn’t just offer incentives to automakers for going green, it would have decimated Canada’s auto sector. That plan would have required that electric vehicles needed to be assembled in America with American made parts completely ignoring NAFTA.

There can be no doubt that Trump is protectionist, as well, and he would threaten Canadian industries just perhaps in a different way.

Canada’s chattering classes, led by the Trudeau government in Ottawa and certain commentators, are warning the country to brace for a second Trump presidency. Truth be told, what we need to brace for is the changing attitude in both parties that rule Washington regarding trade with their neighbours.

After decades of preferential treatment that put Canada on the inside, we are now set to be on the outside. That’s what our elected leaders should be preparing for regardless of who takes the White House in November.

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